Element Capital Management LLC Takes Position in The New York Times Company $NYT

Key Points

• Element Capital Management LLC has acquired a new position in The New York Times Company, purchasing 55,275 shares valued at approximately $2,742,000 during the 1st quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for NYT, with Evercore ISI increasing its target from $60 to $67 and Morgan Stanley adjusting its target from $54 to $59, reflecting positive market sentiment.
• The New York Times recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, resulting in a 1.2% dividend yield, with a current payout ratio of 37.11%.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 55,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,742,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NYT. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of New York Times during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of New York Times during the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of New York Times during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of New York Times during the first quarter valued at approximately $115,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at New York Times

In other news, EVP William Bardeen sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $290,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $652,543.72. This represents a 30.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO R Anthony Benten sold 1,990 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.75, for a total value of $112,932.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 39,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,252,123.75. This represents a 4.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 13,490 shares of company stock worth $769,928. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

New York Times Stock Performance

Shares of NYT traded down $0.0190 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.6710. 272,630 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,789,483. The New York Times Company has a 52-week low of $44.83 and a 52-week high of $62.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.46. The firm has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.09.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. New York Times had a return on equity of 19.55% and a net margin of 11.92%.The business had revenue of $685.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.22 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. New York Times's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NYT. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on New York Times from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of New York Times in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Guggenheim increased their price target on New York Times from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays set a $52.00 price target on New York Times and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on New York Times from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New York Times currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.33.

New York Times Company Profile

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company's mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.