Allianz SE Purchases Shares of 13,667 News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Key Points

• Allianz SE has acquired 13,667 shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA), valued at approximately $372,000, according to its recent SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors, including Signaturefd LLC and Franklin Resources Inc., have also increased their stakes in News Corporation, with institutional investors now owning 66.97% of the company's stock.
• News Corporation's stock recently opened at $29.09 and reported a miss on quarterly earnings, with earnings per share of $0.17, below the consensus estimate of $0.19.

Allianz SE bought a new stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in News during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. CX Institutional bought a new stake in News in the 1st quarter valued at $76,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in News by 714.9% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,433 shares of the company's stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in shares of News by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,600 shares of the company's stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. 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. Wall Street Zen cut News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.12.

News Stock Down 1.3%

News stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,690,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,291,787. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $28.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.84. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The company has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.19. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 70.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. News's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.62%.

About News

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.