Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Holdings in News Corporation $NWSA

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 192.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,942 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,543 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in News were worth $1,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its stake in shares of News by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of News by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of News by 5.9% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in News by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 151,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its stake in News by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.14.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $26.76 on Friday. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.57. The company has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.89.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.