New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $75.61, but opened at $70.22. New York Times shares last traded at $66.19, with a volume of 1,055,693 shares trading hands.

Key New York Times News

Here are the key news stories impacting New York Times this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NYT reported second-quarter earnings of $0.69 per share, above the $0.67 analyst consensus and up from $0.58 a year earlier. Revenue rose 11.2% year over year to $762.46 million, also exceeding estimates of $752.01 million. New York Times Co. Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity indicated a potentially bullish position: investors bought 18,448 call options, more than 11 times the typical call volume. Options activity is not a guarantee of future stock performance, but it suggests heightened investor interest and possible expectations for a rebound.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s higher profit and revenue demonstrate continued progress in its digital business and monetization efforts, although investors focused more heavily on subscriber trends than on the quarterly earnings beat. New York Times Posts Higher Revenue, as Subscriber Growth Slows
• Negative Sentiment: NYT added approximately 280,000 net digital-only subscribers in the quarter, below analysts’ estimate of 295,300. The shortfall raised concerns that subscriber acquisition is losing momentum. NYT Stock Drops as Digital Subscriber Growth Misses Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Management issued a weaker-than-expected outlook for digital subscription revenue. Because subscriptions are central to NYT’s long-term growth strategy, the guidance overshadowed the earnings and revenue beats and prompted the stock’s decline.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NYT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of New York Times in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group set a $80.00 price objective on New York Times in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Guggenheim increased their target price on New York Times from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America cut their target price on New York Times from $87.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of New York Times in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, New York Times currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.22.

New York Times Stock Down 16.2%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.89 and a 200-day moving average of $76.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.95.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.02. New York Times had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $762.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $752.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The New York Times Company will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio is 39.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jacqueline M. Welch sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.14, for a total value of $296,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,769,944.22. This trade represents a 14.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP William Bardeen sold 4,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.85, for a total transaction of $320,819.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,133,496. This trade represents a 22.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 17,121 shares of company stock valued at $1,310,920 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New York Times

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of New York Times by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,241,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,284,000 after buying an additional 1,628,200 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in New York Times by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,211,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,805,000 after buying an additional 441,851 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in New York Times in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $351,664,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in New York Times by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,027,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,988,000 after acquiring an additional 116,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in New York Times by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,922,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,347,000 after acquiring an additional 50,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.37% of the company’s stock.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company is a publicly traded media organization best known for publishing The New York Times newspaper and operating the NYTimes.com digital platform. The company produces daily print and digital journalism covering national and international news, opinion pieces, feature stories, and multimedia content. Alongside its flagship newspaper, the firm offers a range of subscription-based services, including Times Cooking, NYT Games, podcasts and newsletters, designed to engage a broad audience of readers and advertisers.

Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, The New York Times has built a reputation for in-depth reporting and investigative journalism.