New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $82.74 and last traded at $82.4170, with a volume of 966290 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $80.97.

Key Headlines Impacting New York Times

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

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target on NYT to $94 and assigned a “buy” rating, giving the stock additional near-term upside vs. current levels; analyst support can attract inflows and lift sentiment. Citigroup price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks published a piece highlighting NYT as a top momentum stock for the long term, which may reinforce momentum-oriented buying and interest from growth/momentum investors. Zacks momentum story
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy breaking-news coverage — including the LaGuardia deadly plane collision — typically drives spikes in pageviews and subscriptions; investors often view sustained traffic from major events as supportive of top-line growth. LaGuardia crash coverage
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile international coverage (e.g., reporting on U.S. peace plan to Iran/the Middle East) can also attract readership and subscriptions during geopolitical news cycles, supporting ad and subscription revenue. U.S. plan to end Middle East war
• Neutral Sentiment: Investigative pieces (for example on T.S.A. tipping off ICE) are newsworthy and drive engagement but their impact on recurring subscription trends is less direct and harder to quantify. T.S.A. tipped off ICE story

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NYT. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of New York Times in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $68.00 target price on shares of New York Times in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Argus raised shares of New York Times to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of New York Times from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of New York Times from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, New York Times currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.86.

New York Times Stock Up 1.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.92.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. New York Times had a return on equity of 20.73% and a net margin of 12.18%.The firm had revenue of $802.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $791.55 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. New York Times’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

New York Times Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This is a positive change from New York Times’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. New York Times’s payout ratio is 34.45%.

Insider Activity

In other New York Times news, CAO R Anthony Benten sold 1,913 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $140,739.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 37,772 shares in the company, valued at $2,778,886.04. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Arthur G. Sulzberger sold 13,000 shares of New York Times stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total value of $1,039,350.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 172,338 shares in the company, valued at $13,778,423.10. The trade was a 7.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,913 shares of company stock worth $2,214,369. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New York Times

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NYT. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of New York Times by 162.1% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 24,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 15,029 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in New York Times by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in New York Times by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 43,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after acquiring an additional 16,046 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in New York Times during the 4th quarter valued at $262,000. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. increased its holdings in New York Times by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 4,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.