Arlington Partners LLC Raises Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Arlington Partners LLC increased its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 151,720 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,011 shares during the quarter. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in News were worth $4,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. State Street Corp lifted its stake in News by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of News by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,622,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,457,000 after acquiring an additional 90,419 shares in the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of News by 8.9% in the third quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 6,779,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,528,000 after acquiring an additional 555,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of News by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,337,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,512,000 after acquiring an additional 53,550 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NWSA. Citigroup began coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

News Stock Up 1.9 %

News stock opened at $29.04 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.59. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a PE ratio of 39.78 and a beta of 1.35. News Co. has a 1-year low of $22.65 and a 1-year high of $30.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

News Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.