Aberdeen Group plc Increases Position in News Corporation $NWS

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,732 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in News were worth $3,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at about $223,000. Optas LLC purchased a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at about $205,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of News by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in News by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its stake in News by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 684,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,493,000 after buying an additional 75,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWS has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

News Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of News stock opened at $29.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.51. News Corporation has a 1-year low of $26.25 and a 1-year high of $35.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%. Analysts predict that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 63.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 10th. News’s payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

About News

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.