Rhumbline Advisers Sells 14,044 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 680,223 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,044 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in News were worth $18,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in News in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of News during the third quarter worth $85,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in News during the fourth quarter worth $137,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in News by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.25.

News Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $28.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.76. The company has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.35.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

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