Capula Management Ltd Trims Stake in News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• Capula Management Ltd cut its stake in News Corporation by 35.1% in the first quarter, selling 91,535 shares and leaving it with 169,482 shares valued at about $4.23 million.
• News Corporation shares were down 3.7% on Friday, opening at $26.33, while the company’s market cap was about $14.41 billion.
• The company recently topped earnings expectations, reporting $0.21 EPS versus $0.16 expected and revenue of $2.19 billion, and analysts currently have a Buy consensus with a $37.14 price target.

Capula Management Ltd reduced its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 35.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 169,482 shares of the company's stock after selling 91,535 shares during the quarter. Capula Management Ltd's holdings in News were worth $4,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of News by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company's stock valued at $965,673,000 after buying an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in News by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company's stock worth $781,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in News by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company's stock worth $272,169,000 after acquiring an additional 88,157 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in News by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company's stock worth $278,607,000 after acquiring an additional 947,687 shares during the period. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in News by 26.4% during the first quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 8,835,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

News Stock Down 3.7%

Shares of NWSA opened at $26.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.89. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.14.

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.

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