Brighton Jones LLC Acquires New Position in News Corporation $NWSA

Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 33,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,009,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 103.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,898 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in News during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in News by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,492,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 72,438 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in News by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,081,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,873,000 after acquiring an additional 39,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in News by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 4,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of News in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.62.

News Stock Up 1.6%

NWSA stock opened at $26.75 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.48. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $31.61. The company has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.19. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. News’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a half year 25 dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a yield of 70.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

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.