MQS Management LLC Takes Position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 20,666 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of News by 161.2% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 25,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $682,000 after acquiring an additional 15,462 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of News by 9.7% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 245,195 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,674,000 after acquiring an additional 21,675 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of News by 50.8% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of News by 13.2% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 82,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,248,000 after acquiring an additional 9,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of News by 0.3% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 232,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,350,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NWSA. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $39.20.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,793,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,614. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.80. News Corporation has a 12-month low of $23.38 and a 12-month high of $30.69. The stock has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.35 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2 billion. News had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 5.64%. News's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.