Bank of America Corp DE Grows Stock Position in News Corporation $NWSA

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 80.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,069,041 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,819,652 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in News were worth $101,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of News during the 4th quarter worth about $188,788,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 488.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after buying an additional 6,742,836 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of News by 2,348.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,664,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,961,000 after buying an additional 5,433,332 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of News by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in News by 46.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,706,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,552 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NWSA. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup lowered their price target on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $28.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.70. News Corporation has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.62.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 68.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.95%.

About News

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.