News Corporation $NWSA Holdings Boosted by West Tower Group LLC

West Tower Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 166.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,359 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,905 shares during the quarter. News accounts for approximately 6.7% of West Tower Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in News were worth $2,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its stake in shares of News by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in News by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of News by 5.9% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of News by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 151,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,947,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of News by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $26.92 on Wednesday. News Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $14.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 0.89.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on NWSA shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.14.

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.