AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 507,923 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 43.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 652,248 shares of the company's stock after selling 507,923 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.11% of News worth $17,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,832,000 after buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of News by 30.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,458,869 shares of the company's stock worth $38,850,000 after purchasing an additional 338,958 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in News during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $374,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in News by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,594,000 after buying an additional 12,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in News by 374.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company's stock worth $59,488,000 after buying an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.80.

News Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ NWSA traded down $0.42 on Friday, reaching $28.06. The company had a trading volume of 4,454,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,818,084. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's 50 day moving average is $26.72 and its 200-day moving average is $27.79. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.