Ieq Capital LLC Sells 2,829 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Ieq Capital LLC cut its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,825 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,829 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in News were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of News by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 90,419 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 53,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in News by 374.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,488,000 after buying an additional 1,704,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

News stock opened at $28.36 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.80. News Co. has a 1 year low of $22.65 and a 1 year high of $30.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

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 $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. News’s payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. Citigroup started coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.25.

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.