Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,479 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,350 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in News were worth $3,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in News during the fourth quarter worth $362,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,796,373 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,472,000 after purchasing an additional 81,589 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 229,525 shares of the company's stock worth $6,321,000 after buying an additional 13,883 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in News by 80.4% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,377 shares of the company's stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on NWSA. UBS Group upgraded News from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.20.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA traded down $0.14 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.94. 4,169,472 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,847,189. The company has a market cap of $15.82 billion, a PE ratio of 38.27 and a beta of 1.30. News Co. has a 52-week low of $23.38 and a 52-week high of $30.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.02 and a 200 day moving average of $27.84.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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.