News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Bought by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 16.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 330,982 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,650 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in News were worth $9,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of News in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in News by 95.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in News in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in News by 125.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of News during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of News from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on News from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, News presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $26.50 on Monday. News Co. has a one year low of $19.25 and a one year high of $28.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $15.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.61 and a beta of 1.34.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. News had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 4.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a yield of 0.7%. News’s payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

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