Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 7,238 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203,657 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,238 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in News were worth $6,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of News by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of News by 253.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of News by 101.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 496,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,889,000 after purchasing an additional 249,659 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in News by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in News by 1.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 137,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,830,000 after buying an additional 2,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of News stock opened at $31.78 on Thursday. News Co. has a 12-month low of $23.99 and a 12-month high of $35.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.53 and a beta of 1.38.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. Analysts predict that News Co. will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

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.