Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in News Corporation $NWS

Key Points

• Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. reduced its stake in News Corporation by 3.2%, now holding approximately 1,950,223 shares valued at $59.2 million.
• News Corporation recently announced a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share to be paid on October 8th, with a payout ratio of 9.62%.
• Despite a recent upgrade to a "strong sell" rating by Zacks Research, News Corporation reported earnings of $0.19 per share for the last quarter, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations.

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,950,223 shares of the company's stock after selling 64,269 shares during the quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.34% of News worth $59,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of News by 3,546.2% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 948 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of News by 75.3% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 964 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of News by 150.3% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,925 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Zacks Research upgraded News to a "strong sell" rating in a report 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy".

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock traded up $0.7350 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.2050. 214,833 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 758,141. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $35.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.36.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given 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%.

About News

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.