KBC Group NV Decreases Stock Holdings in News Corporation $NWSA

KBC Group NV lessened its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 140,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,146 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in News were worth $4,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in News by 12,084.6% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 1st quarter worth about $73,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in News by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 661.1% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 2,995 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered their price target on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $32.70 target price on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of News in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, News presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.28.

News Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $26.15 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 1.15. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $23.38 and a 52 week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. News had a net margin of 13.80% and a return on equity of 5.68%. News’s revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

About News

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.