New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYTGet Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $75.61, but opened at $70.22. New York Times shares last traded at $66.19, with a volume of 1,055,693 shares.

Key Headlines Impacting New York Times

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

  • Positive Sentiment: NYT reported second-quarter earnings of $0.69 per share, exceeding the $0.67 consensus estimate and rising from $0.58 a year earlier. Revenue increased 11.2% year over year to $762.5 million, also ahead of expectations, supported by higher digital advertising, digital subscriptions and average revenue per user. New York Times Co. Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
  • Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity may reflect bullish positioning or speculative interest. Investors traded 18,448 NYT call options, roughly 1,071% above average volume. Options activity does not guarantee sustained buying in the shares. Investors Buy High Volume of New York Times Call Options
  • Neutral Sentiment: The Times continues publishing a broad mix of political, international, business, technology, health, climate, sports and lifestyle coverage. This supports the company’s content proposition and audience engagement, but the articles do not represent new revenue or earnings guidance.
  • Negative Sentiment: NYT added approximately 280,000 net digital-only subscribers in the quarter, below the roughly 295,300 analyst estimate. The shortfall, combined with a weaker-than-expected digital subscription revenue outlook, prompted a sharp selloff despite the earnings and revenue beats. NYT Stock Drops as It Added Fewer Than Expected Digital Subscribers

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NYT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of New York Times from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on New York Times from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research raised New York Times from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of New York Times in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on New York Times from $87.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.89.

View Our Latest Stock Report on NYT

New York Times Trading Down 1.4%

The business’s 50-day moving average is $73.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.22. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.95.

New York Times (NYSE:NYTGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $762.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $752.01 million. New York Times had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 22.75%. New York Times’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The New York Times Company will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

New York Times Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. New York Times’s payout ratio is 39.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at New York Times

In other New York Times news, Director David S. Perpich sold 9,000 shares of New York Times stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total transaction of $693,540.00. Following the sale, the director owned 28,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,193,821.14. The trade was a 24.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jacqueline M. Welch sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.14, for a total value of $296,560.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,769,944.22. The trade was a 14.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,121 shares of company stock worth $1,310,920. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New York Times

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of New York Times in the fourth quarter worth approximately $351,664,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 10,018.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,316,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,281 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 78.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,187,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836,788 shares during the period. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of New York Times in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $97,882,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of New York Times by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,055,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,031 shares in the last quarter. 95.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

New York Times Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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