Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes Position in News Corporation $NWSA

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 114,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,845,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of News by 16.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of News by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in News by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,169,000 after purchasing an additional 88,157 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in News by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,607,000 after purchasing an additional 947,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd raised its stake in News by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 8,835,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Down 1.8%

News stock opened at $30.39 on Friday. News Corporation has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $16.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 0.91.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a yield of 68.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research cut News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

News Company Profile

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.