Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 32,177 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.0%, owning approximately 0.14% of the company worth $20.85 million after selling 32,177 shares.
• News Corporation announced a dividend of $0.10 per share, with a payout ratio of 9.62% and an expected dividend yield of 70.0%.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $38.62 for News, with ratings ranging from Strong Buy to Hold from various research firms.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 770,291 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,177 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.14% of News worth $20,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 8,962,112 shares of the company's stock worth $246,817,000 after buying an additional 2,569,343 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of News by 1.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,391,564 shares of the company's stock worth $146,758,000 after buying an additional 80,282 shares during the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,382,702 shares of the company's stock worth $148,240,000 after buying an additional 936,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,963,881 shares of the company's stock worth $136,706,000 after buying an additional 166,885 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price objective on shares of News in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of News in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $38.62.

News Price Performance

Shares of News stock traded down $0.00 on Friday, hitting $29.48. 293,875 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,269,276. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.18. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $23.38 and a 52 week high of $30.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.84.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.19. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for 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%. News's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid 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 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.