Strs Ohio Takes Position in News Corporation $NWS

Key Points

• Strs Ohio acquired 87,810 shares of News Corporation, valued at approximately $2.67 million, during the first quarter of the year.
• After its last earnings report, News Corporation reported an EPS of $0.19, slightly beating analysts' expectations of $0.18, while recording a revenue of $2.11 billion.
• The company declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share, to be paid on October 8th, with an ex-dividend date of September 10th.

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 87,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,667,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in News by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 9,728,572 shares of the company's stock worth $295,457,000 after buying an additional 78,855 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,273 shares of the company's stock worth $208,924,000 after buying an additional 344,036 shares during the period. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of News by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 609,566 shares of the company's stock worth $18,513,000 after purchasing an additional 64,248 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of News by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 356,975 shares of the company's stock worth $10,841,000 after purchasing an additional 134,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of News by 4,373.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 348,496 shares of the company's stock worth $11,475,000 after purchasing an additional 340,706 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Zacks Research raised shares of News to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWS traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $33.92. 3,124,467 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,541,494. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.67 and a 200-day moving average of $32.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 1.18. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $26.25 and a 12 month high of $35.58.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. On average, equities analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a yield of 63.0%. News's dividend 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.