Graham Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 52,434 News Corporation $NWS

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. has invested $1.59 million in News Corporation, acquiring approximately 52,434 shares of the company's stock.
• News Corporation recently announced a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share, which will be paid on October 8th to shareholders of record as of September 10th.
• Analysts have rated News Corporation with an average rating of "Buy," although Zacks Research has given it a "strong sell" rating, reflecting mixed sentiment among investors.

Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 52,434 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,592,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in shares of News by 0.8% in the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 9,728,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,457,000 after buying an additional 78,855 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,924,000 after acquiring an additional 344,036 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in News by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 939,188 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,579,000 after acquiring an additional 10,716 shares during the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its stake in News by 11.8% in the first quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 609,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,513,000 after acquiring an additional 64,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in News by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 365,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,111,000 after acquiring an additional 114,542 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Zacks Research raised shares of News to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy".

News Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of News stock traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $33.40. The stock had a trading volume of 378,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 711,781. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.94 and a 200 day moving average of $32.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06 and a beta of 1.18. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $26.25 and a twelve month high of $35.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.84.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. Sell-side analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 60.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. News's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.62%.

News Company 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.