State Street Corp Sells 8,552,082 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Key Points

• State Street reduced its News Corp stake by 22%, selling 8.55 million shares and retaining 30.26 million shares worth approximately $751.5 million, or 5.59% of the company.
• Analysts remain generally positive, with five Buy ratings and one Hold rating; News has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $38.50.
• News Corp exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.35 in EPS versus the $0.21 consensus and $2.34 billion in revenue, up 10.8% year over year.

State Street Corp cut its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 22.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,263,987 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,552,082 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 5.59% of News worth $751,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of News by 282.7% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,032 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in News by 96.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in News during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in News by 150.5% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,475 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 2,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Havemeyer Place LP bought a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,000. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NWSA shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of News from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.50.

News Trading Down 3.9%

NWSA opened at $28.12 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.27 and a 200 day moving average of $26.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.66. The firm has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 0.91.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 68.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. News's payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

About News

News Corp is a global media and information-services company headquartered in New York. The company owns and operates businesses in news, publishing, digital real estate services and subscription-based information products, serving consumers, businesses and professional audiences across multiple markets.

Its portfolio includes Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial information and research through publications and services such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron's; News UK, publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun; and News Corp Australia, which operates newspapers and digital media brands.

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