Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Buys 663,165 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. increased its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 481.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 801,012 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 663,165 shares during the quarter. News accounts for 0.5% of Aristeia Capital L.L.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Aristeia Capital L.L.C.’s holdings in News were worth $20,922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. State Street Corp increased its position 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 valued at $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in News by 39.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after acquiring an additional 4,214,562 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its stake in News by 10.7% during the third quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,224,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358,375 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of News by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,169,000 after buying an additional 88,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

News Price Performance

NWSA stock opened at $25.98 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61.

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

News Company 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.