New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $65.14 and last traded at $64.6150, with a volume of 558479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NYT. Zacks Research downgraded New York Times from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of New York Times in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of New York Times from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of New York Times in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on New York Times from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.57.

New York Times Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.80.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. New York Times had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.55%. The business had revenue of $700.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. New York Times’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 8th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 8th. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jacqueline M. Welch sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.04, for a total transaction of $330,220.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,470 shares in the company, valued at $868,778.80. The trade was a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of New York Times

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NYT. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in New York Times by 1.7% in the third quarter. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC now owns 11,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of New York Times by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of New York Times by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management boosted its position in shares of New York Times by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 3,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of New York Times by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 95.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

New York Times Company Profile

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.