Maverick Capital Ltd. Acquires 11,003 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• Maverick Capital Ltd. has increased its stake in News Corporation by 105.7%, owning a total of 21,415 shares, valued at $583,000 as of its latest filing.
• In addition to Maverick, multiple hedge funds have raised their positions in News Corporation, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its stake by 1.6% to 51.76 million shares.
• Analyst ratings for News Corporation show a mix, with one strong buy, six buys, and one hold, alongside a current average target price of $38.62.

Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 105.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,415 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,003 shares during the quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd.'s holdings in News were worth $583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Value Investors Ltd acquired a new stake in News during the 4th quarter worth $122,391,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of News by 291.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,941,467 shares of the company's stock worth $136,088,000 after purchasing an additional 3,678,215 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of News during the 1st quarter worth about $85,213,000. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of News by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company's stock worth $376,896,000 after buying an additional 2,183,613 shares during the period. Finally, Contour Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of News by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,382,702 shares of the company's stock worth $148,240,000 after buying an additional 936,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NWSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.62.

News Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $29.44. 3,321,312 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,072,467. News Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.13. The firm has a market cap of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.18.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%.The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a yield of 70.0%. News's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.