abrdn plc Raises Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 70.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,742 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,811 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in News were worth $3,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 59,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 19,282 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in News by 47.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 66,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 21,484 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in News by 1.3% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 181,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of News by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 154,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,105,000 after purchasing an additional 10,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of News by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 59,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on NWSA. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $24.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.92. News Co. has a 1-year low of $16.35 and a 1-year high of $28.00.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

News Company 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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.