Dodge & Cox Has $383.15 Million Stake in News Corporation $NWSA

Dodge & Cox cut its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,476,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 539,775 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox’s holdings in News were worth $383,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,171,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,550,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,293 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in News by 7.3% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,170,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $866,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980,941 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 13.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,503,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of News by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,154,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,578,000 after purchasing an additional 208,692 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Four equities 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $23.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.98. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $24.88 and its 200 day moving average is $26.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

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.