Credit Industriel ET Commercial Sells 48,858 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• Credit Industriel ET Commercial reduced its stake in News Corporation by 33.5%, selling 48,858 shares in Q4 and leaving 97,143 shares valued at about $2.54 million.
• Institutional ownership is high at 66.97%, with firms like Barclays and JPMorgan boosting positions; analysts are split (three Buy, three Hold) and the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a $37.02 price target.
• News beat Q4 estimates with $0.40 EPS vs $0.33 and $2.36B in revenue, trades near $25.44 with a $14.13B market cap, and recently paid a $0.10 dividend.

Credit Industriel ET Commercial decreased its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,143 shares of the company's stock after selling 48,858 shares during the period. Credit Industriel ET Commercial's holdings in News were worth $2,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in News by 39.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company's stock worth $456,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in News by 22.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,770,946 shares of the company's stock worth $54,389,000 after purchasing an additional 330,513 shares during the last quarter. GenTrust LLC bought a new stake in News in the third quarter worth about $1,549,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in News in the third quarter worth about $8,799,000. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in News in the third quarter worth about $4,381,000. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $25.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $24.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.38. News Corporation has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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