Swedbank AB Raises Holdings in News Corporation $NWSA

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 77.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 192,326 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,821 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in News were worth $5,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of News by 16.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after buying an additional 4,448,929 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 39.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after buying an additional 4,214,562 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of News by 10.7% in the third quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,224,000 after buying an additional 1,358,375 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 11.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,607,000 after buying an additional 947,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of News by 46.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,706,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,662,000 after buying an additional 2,449,552 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NWSA. Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings cut News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, News presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.14.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $26.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.44 and a 200 day moving average of $25.39. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.