Independent Franchise Partners LLP Buys 78,855 Shares of 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 increased its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,728,572 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 78,855 shares during the quarter. News comprises about 2.1% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. 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 (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NWS. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in News by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 18,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in News by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,965,125 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,799,000 after acquiring an additional 160,922 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in News by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its stake in News by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 44,457 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 3,498 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

News Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ NWS opened at $35.17 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $33.79 and its 200-day moving average is $32.37. The stock has a market cap of $19.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.23. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $26.25 and a twelve month high of $35.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. Equities research analysts predict that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend 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 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.

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