Northern Right Capital Management L.P. Boosts Stock Position in News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• Northern Right Capital raised its News Corp stake by 12.6% to 1,167,372 shares, making NWSA the firm's largest holding (about 11.1% of its portfolio) valued at roughly $35.85 million.
• Wall Street shows a consensus of "Moderate Buy" on NWSA with an average price target of $37.02 (four Buy ratings, three Hold ratings), despite several recent price-target reductions by major firms.
• News Corp beat quarterly estimates with $0.40 EPS vs. $0.33 expected and $2.36B revenue (up 5.5% YoY), and announced a $0.10 dividend payable April 8 (record/ex-dividend date March 11).

Northern Right Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 12.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,167,372 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 130,362 shares during the quarter. News comprises approximately 11.1% of Northern Right Capital Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Northern Right Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.21% of News worth $35,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of News during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in News in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in News by 154.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 954 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 target price on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.02.

News Trading Up 2.1%

News stock opened at $24.20 on Tuesday. News Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $31.61. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

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

News Company 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.

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