News Corporation $NWSA is Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s 8th Largest Position

Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,189,590 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 572,331 shares during the quarter. News comprises about 5.3% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned approximately 4.79% of News worth $740,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,764,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,409,030,000 after acquiring an additional 812,180 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of News by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,183,613 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of News by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 8,962,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,343 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of News by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,391,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,758,000 after acquiring an additional 80,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,382,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,240,000 after acquiring an additional 936,702 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.62.

News Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $30.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.15. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. News’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 70.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

News Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.