News Corporation $NWSA Shares Sold by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC cut its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,914 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in News were worth $5,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of News by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,673,000 after buying an additional 4,448,929 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of News by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,877,000 after buying an additional 1,137,691 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of News by 39.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after buying an additional 4,214,562 shares during the period. 59 North Capital Management LP raised its holdings in News by 10.7% in the third quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,224,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in News by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,169,000 after acquiring an additional 88,157 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, News presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.14.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $25.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The firm has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.88.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. Analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

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.