News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,875 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,258 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in News were worth $2,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of News during the third quarter worth about $253,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of News by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,379,000 after buying an additional 91,610 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of News by 321.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,155,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,171,000 after buying an additional 880,977 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of News by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 159,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,922,000 after buying an additional 65,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 34.0% during the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after buying an additional 24,496 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NWSA opened at $24.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. News Co. has a 52-week low of $16.35 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.07. The company has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.35 and a beta of 1.35.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.11. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.09 earnings per share. News’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Macquarie upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.