Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Sells 12,272 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,821 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,272 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in News were worth $1,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in News by 104.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in News during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in News by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in shares of News by 70.4% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 5,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 2,425 shares during the period. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 6,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $24.43 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. News Co. has a 1-year low of $16.35 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.95 billion, a PE ratio of 61.08 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. News had a return on equity of 4.14% and a net margin of 2.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

About News

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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.