Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 56,609 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 894,503 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,609 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of News worth $26,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in News by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,764,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,409,030,000 after purchasing an additional 812,180 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in News by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 27,189,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,101,000 after purchasing an additional 572,331 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in News by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,183,613 shares during the period. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its stake in News by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 11,147,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,542 shares during the period. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its stake in News by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 5,694,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,236,000 after purchasing an additional 747,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.68 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.49. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The stock has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%.News’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a half year 25 dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 70.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 10th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.62%.

News Profile

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.