News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Holdings Decreased by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 76.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,538 shares of the company's stock after selling 131,677 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in News were worth $1,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in News during the 1st quarter worth $2,508,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in News by 24.7% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 189,214 shares of the company's stock worth $5,150,000 after purchasing an additional 37,521 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in News by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 44,289 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in News by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 176,224 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,797,000 after buying an additional 35,857 shares during the period. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of News during the 1st quarter worth about $200,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Price Performance

News stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 318,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,925,198. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39 and a beta of 1.23. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $28.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.