News Corporation $NWSA Shares Sold by Independent Franchise Partners LLP

Key Points

• Independent Franchise Partners LLP trimmed its stake in News Corporation by 1.3% in Q3, selling 374,174 shares and leaving it with 28,796,357 shares — about a 5.10% ownership stake valued at roughly $884.3 million.
• News beat quarterly estimates with $0.40 EPS (consensus $0.33) and $2.36 billion in revenue (consensus $2.30B); analysts’ consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with a $37.02 price target.
• The company declared a $0.10 per share dividend payable April 8 (record/ex-dividend March 11), and the stock trades around $23.70 with a one-year range of $22.20–$31.61 and a market cap of $13.16 billion.

Independent Franchise Partners LLP cut its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,796,357 shares of the company's stock after selling 374,174 shares during the quarter. News comprises about 5.8% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned approximately 5.10% of News worth $884,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in News by 154.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in shares of News by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,749 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of News by 87.9% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the company's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $23.70 on Friday. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $24.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.41.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. News's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NWSA shares. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered News from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Profile

News Corporation NASDAQ: NWSA is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company's news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world's largest consumer publishers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.