Lido Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Lido Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 273,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,488 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in News were worth $7,523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in News by 73.0% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 254,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,781,000 after buying an additional 107,433 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in News during the third quarter worth approximately $85,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in News by 148.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 13,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in News by 2.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,594,000 after buying an additional 12,345 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup initiated coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.80.

News Price Performance

NWSA stock opened at $27.12 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a PE ratio of 37.15 and a beta of 1.24. News Co. has a 12-month low of $22.65 and a 12-month high of $30.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.74.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

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