News Corporation $NWSA is Independent Franchise Partners LLP's 8th Largest Position

Key Points

• Independent Franchise Partners LLP is now the 8th largest holder of News Corporation, owning approximately 27.19 million shares, which represents about 5.3% of its portfolio.
• Recently, various investment analysts have set new price targets for News Corporation's stock, with Guggenheim setting a target of $45.00 and JPMorgan Chase raising their target from $38.00 to $40.00.
• News Corporation declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share, with the dividend yield currently at 70.0% based on its payout ratio of 9.62%.

Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,189,590 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 572,331 shares during the quarter. News comprises about 5.3% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned approximately 4.79% of News worth $740,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,764,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,409,030,000 after acquiring an additional 812,180 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of News by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $376,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,183,613 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of News by 40.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,569,343 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of News by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,391,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,758,000 after acquiring an additional 80,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,382,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $148,240,000 after acquiring an additional 936,702 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.62.

News Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $30.50 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $29.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.15. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. News's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

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

News 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.