Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Trims Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC decreased its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA - Free Report) by 73.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 187,183 shares of the company's stock after selling 528,644 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC's holdings in News were worth $5,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in News by 2,392.9% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in News during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in News in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of News by 49.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on NWSA. StockNews.com cut News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $38.80.

News Price Performance

Shares of News stock traded up $0.22 on Monday, reaching $28.28. The stock had a trading volume of 3,934,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,795,481. The business's 50 day moving average is $26.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.85. The company has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.74 and a beta of 1.30. News Co. has a 1 year low of $23.38 and a 1 year high of $30.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

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