Raymond James & Associates Trims Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Raymond James & Associates cut its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 33.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,584 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,450 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in News were worth $751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NWSA. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in News in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in News in the fourth quarter valued at about $623,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in News during the fourth quarter worth about $587,000. City Holding Co. increased its position in shares of News by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 16,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of News by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.61 on Wednesday. News Co. has a 52 week low of $16.35 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $14.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.53 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 4.14% and a net margin of 2.29%. News’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About News

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.