New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $69.17 and last traded at $69.04, with a volume of 364582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on NYT shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of New York Times from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of New York Times from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of New York Times from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group set a $62.00 price objective on New York Times in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of New York Times from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.57.

New York Times Stock Up 2.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.19.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. New York Times had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The firm had revenue of $700.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 8th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. New York Times’s payout ratio is currently 35.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NYT. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in New York Times by 78.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,187,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836,788 shares during the last quarter. Abrams Bison Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of New York Times in the second quarter valued at $78,932,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of New York Times by 383.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,765,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,865 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in New York Times by 98.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,055,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in New York Times in the third quarter worth $58,209,000. Institutional investors own 95.37% of the company’s stock.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company’s mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.