Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Sells 16,500 Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA)

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. reduced its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 36.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in News by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company's stock worth $733,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,080 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of News by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,278 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP lifted its stake in News by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 8,962,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,343 shares during the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its position in News by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,382,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $148,240,000 after buying an additional 936,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of News by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,963,881 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,706,000 after acquiring an additional 166,885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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, Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday. Two 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 company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.12.

News Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of News stock traded down $0.46 on Thursday, reaching $28.97. 4,479,810 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,906,071. The company has a market capitalization of $16.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 1.23. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $23.38 and a 52 week high of $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm's 50-day moving average is $28.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.05.

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

News Announces Dividend

The company 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 70.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. News's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.