News Corporation $NWSA Shares Sold by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 218,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,914 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in News were worth $5,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of News during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in News in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in News by 154.5% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $25.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.14 and a 200 day moving average of $25.47. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

News Profile

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.