Kentucky Retirement Systems Makes New Investment in News Corporation $NWSA

Kentucky Retirement Systems acquired a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,025,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in News in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in News during the second quarter worth $30,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in News during the third quarter worth $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in News by 154.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of News by 561.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Down 1.9%

NWSA opened at $27.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.62. News Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $31.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 0.89.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. Analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research raised News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

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.