Graham Capital Management L.P. Trims Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lessened its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 227,307 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,109 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in News were worth $6,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of News by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,227,000 after buying an additional 632,721 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of News by 11.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of News by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in News by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,857,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,798,000 after buying an additional 234,893 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

News Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of News stock opened at $28.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The company has a market cap of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.72 and its 200 day moving average is $27.81.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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.