SG Americas Securities LLC Buys Shares of 157,991 News Corporation $NWSA

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 157,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,852,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,171,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,550,546,000 after buying an additional 407,293 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of News by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,170,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $866,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,941 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of News by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 12,650,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of News by 2.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,154,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,578,000 after acquiring an additional 208,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 488.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,054,000 after acquiring an additional 6,742,836 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Stock Up 0.1%

NWSA opened at $26.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.89. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.68% and a net margin of 13.80%.The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim dropped their target price on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of News in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.68.

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.