News Corporation $NWSA Shares Purchased by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 54.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 567,584 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200,262 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in News were worth $14,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in News in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of News during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of News by 154.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 561.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $28.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.70. News Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that News Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 68.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is 9.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their target price on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

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.