CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $18.22 Million Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 661,750 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,364 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in News were worth $18,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of News by 124.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in News during the 4th quarter valued at about $172,357,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of News by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,080 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of News by 374.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after buying an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. Finally, Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in News by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,190,000 after buying an additional 1,245,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital reduced their target price on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com cut News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

News Trading Up 0.7 %

NWSA opened at $25.86 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a 12 month low of $22.65 and a 12 month high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

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