Yacktman Asset Management LP Has $410.96 Million Stock Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Yacktman Asset Management LP lowered its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,739,790 shares of the company’s stock after selling 188,016 shares during the quarter. News makes up approximately 3.8% of Yacktman Asset Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Yacktman Asset Management LP’s holdings in News were worth $410,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of News in the third quarter worth $253,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in News by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,379,000 after buying an additional 91,610 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in News by 321.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,155,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,171,000 after acquiring an additional 880,977 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after acquiring an additional 24,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in shares of News during the 3rd quarter valued at $496,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

NWSA traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $24.24. 1,049,589 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,707,309. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.86. News Co. has a one year low of $16.35 and a one year high of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.53 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

News Company 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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.