Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New Investment in News Corporation $NWSA

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 34,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in News by 120.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,326,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,272,083 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in News by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,245,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,842,000 after purchasing an additional 94,368 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of News by 80.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,069,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,441,000 after buying an additional 1,819,652 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of News by 586.7% during the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 322,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,435,000 after buying an additional 275,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of News by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 567,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,149,000 after acquiring an additional 200,262 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on NWSA shares. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research lowered News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

News Price Performance

News stock opened at $29.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.49. News Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $31.66.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. News’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 67.0%. News’s payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

About News

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.