Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $974,000 Stock Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,662 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,106 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in News were worth $974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of News by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 9.5% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 6,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of News by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 131,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,231,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of News by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 37,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of News by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 104,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,572,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Price Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.86. News Co. has a 1-year low of $16.35 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.53 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

News Profile

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.