News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by Levin Capital Strategies L.P.

Key Points

• Levin Capital Strategies L.P. reduced its stake in News Corporation by 36.4%, now holding 28,849 shares valued at approximately $785,000.
• Research firms have mixed views on News Corporation, with Guggenheim maintaining a "buy" rating and a price target of $45.00, while Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold."
• News Corporation reported earnings per share of $0.17 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.02, despite revenue of $2.01 billion slightly exceeding analysts' projections.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. trimmed its position in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 36.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,849 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,500 shares during the quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s holdings in News were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in News by 3.5% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in News by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,962 shares of the company's stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in News by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,203 shares of the company's stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in News by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,103 shares of the company's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in News by 10.4% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.52. The stock had a trading volume of 3,740,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,004,550. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $16.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.23. News Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75.

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

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a yield of 70.0%. News's dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.12.

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.