Dodge & Cox Has $383.15 Million Stake in News Corporation $NWSA

Dodge & Cox trimmed its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,476,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 539,775 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned 2.21% of News worth $383,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 0.9% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 2.9% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC raised its position in News by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in News by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its position in News by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $23.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.98. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.