News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) Short Interest Up 19.8% in April

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,160,000 shares, an increase of 19.8% from the March 31st total of 5,140,000 shares. Currently, 6.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 891,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWS. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 9,649,717 shares of the company's stock valued at $293,641,000 after buying an additional 627,774 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in News by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,535,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,867,000 after acquiring an additional 138,680 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of News by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 4,345,606 shares of the company's stock worth $132,237,000 after purchasing an additional 986,781 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of News by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,855,707 shares of the company's stock worth $86,799,000 after purchasing an additional 13,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of News by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,965,125 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,799,000 after purchasing an additional 160,922 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ NWS traded up $0.63 on Friday, hitting $31.90. 296,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 748,003. News has a fifty-two week low of $23.99 and a fifty-two week high of $35.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.05. The company has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a PE ratio of 43.70 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that News will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News's payout ratio is 27.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

News Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.