Norges Bank Takes Position in News Corporation $NWS

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 517,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,320,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of News by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 661,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,852,000 after purchasing an additional 81,986 shares in the last quarter. Monashee Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,146,000. Regal Partners Ltd increased its holdings in shares of News by 218.8% during the 3rd quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 199,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,876,000 after purchasing an additional 136,590 shares in the last quarter. Ghisallo Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,358,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of News by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,163,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,287 shares in the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, News currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWS opened at $31.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.82 and a 200 day moving average of $29.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70. News Corporation has a one year low of $25.49 and a one year high of $35.58.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. As a group, research analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company’s operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.