Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 401 Shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,752 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in New York Times were worth $924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in New York Times by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of New York Times by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of New York Times by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new stake in New York Times in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Synergy Financial Group LTD bought a new position in New York Times in the third quarter worth $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.37% of the company’s stock.

New York Times Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE NYT opened at $50.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.66. The stock has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.18. The New York Times Company has a 12 month low of $41.55 and a 12 month high of $58.16.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.06. New York Times had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 18.51%. As a group, analysts forecast that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from New York Times’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. New York Times’s payout ratio is presently 40.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on NYT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New York Times from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of New York Times from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New York Times has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company’s mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.