Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Purchases New Shares in The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in New York Times during the 4th quarter valued at $89,754,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in New York Times during the 1st quarter valued at $42,434,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in New York Times by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,997,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,844,000 after acquiring an additional 406,958 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in New York Times during the 4th quarter valued at $18,255,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of New York Times in the 1st quarter worth about $15,190,000. 95.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of New York Times from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.71.

New York Times Stock Performance

Shares of New York Times stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $53.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 859,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,666. The New York Times Company has a one year low of $39.73 and a one year high of $55.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.32. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.73 and a beta of 1.06.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.11. New York Times had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $594.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $591.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The New York Times Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other New York Times news, CEO Levien Meredith A. Kopit sold 12,548 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.72, for a total transaction of $598,790.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 120,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,729,835.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other New York Times news, CAO R Anthony Benten sold 5,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.98, for a total transaction of $253,275.58. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,889,452.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Levien Meredith A. Kopit sold 12,548 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.72, for a total transaction of $598,790.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,729,835.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

New York Times Profile

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.