Independent Franchise Partners LLP Grows Stake in News Corporation $NWS

Key Points

• Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in News Corporation by 0.8%, acquiring 78,855 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately $295,457,000.
• The company has declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share, with a dividend yield of 60.0% for stockholders of record by September 10th.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on News Corporation's stock, with a consensus rating of "Buy" despite a recent upgrade to "strong sell" by Zacks Research.

Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,728,572 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 78,855 shares during the quarter. News comprises 2.1% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned 1.71% of News worth $295,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWS. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in News during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in News by 3,546.2% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 948 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in News by 75.3% during the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 964 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in News during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in News by 150.3% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,925 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156 shares during the period. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWS stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.01. 119,844 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 750,295. The company has a market cap of $19.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50 day moving average is $33.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.40. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $35.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%.The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. 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 presently 9.62%.

News 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.