Power Corp of Canada Makes New Investment in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Power Corp of Canada bought a new stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in News by 289.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of News by 3,529.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 3,282 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of News during the first quarter valued at about $98,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 8,144.6% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. 63.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $15.92 on Thursday. News Co. has a 12 month low of $14.87 and a 12 month high of $23.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.72. The firm has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.57 billion. News had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 5.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.46%.

Insider Activity at News

In related news, General Counsel David B. Pitofsky sold 23,750 shares of News stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $409,212.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 63,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,961.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 13.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of News in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Loop Capital raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.03.

News Company Profile

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News Corp. is a media and information services company, which engages in the creation and distribution of content and other services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other. The Digital Real Estate Services segment refers to the firm’s interest in the REA Group, a company with operations focused on property and property-related advertising and services, as well as financial services.