News Corporation $NWSA Shares Acquired by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 54.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 567,584 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200,262 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.10% of News worth $14,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its stake in shares of News by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in News by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its position in News by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of News by 5.9% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of News by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 151,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,947,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NWSA. Citigroup reduced their price target on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research raised News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of News in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, News presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $28.52 on Friday. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.70. The company has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69 and a beta of 0.88.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a yield of 68.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.95%.

About News

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.