New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of New York Times (NYSE:NYT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

Separately, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on New York Times from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.00.

New York Times Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYT stock opened at $48.43 on Friday. New York Times has a 12 month low of $41.55 and a 12 month high of $58.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.16.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that New York Times 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 given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. This is a boost from New York Times’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NYT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of New York Times by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,800,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $822,408,000 after purchasing an additional 63,856 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in New York Times by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 5,750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,288,000 after buying an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in New York Times by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,035,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,084,000 after buying an additional 102,519 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New York Times by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,570,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,838,000 after buying an additional 418,155 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of New York Times by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,376,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,748,000 after acquiring an additional 22,725 shares in the last quarter. 95.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.