The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• The New York Times Company has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from nine research firms, with an average twelve-month target price of $60.33.
• Recent analyst reports include upgrades from Evercore ISI and Guggenheim, while Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating.
• Insider transactions indicate a selling trend among executives, with EVP Jacqueline M. Welch and EVP William Bardeen reducing their holdings by 27.54% and 30.78%, respectively.

Shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.3333.

NYT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of New York Times in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of New York Times from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays set a $52.00 price target on shares of New York Times and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of New York Times from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of New York Times from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jacqueline M. Welch sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.04, for a total value of $330,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,470 shares in the company, valued at $868,778.80. This represents a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP William Bardeen sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $290,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at $652,543.72. This trade represents a 30.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New York Times

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NYT. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of New York Times by 78.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,187,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,265,000 after buying an additional 1,836,788 shares during the last quarter. Abrams Bison Investments LLC purchased a new position in New York Times during the second quarter worth about $78,932,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in New York Times by 383.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,765,338 shares of the company's stock worth $87,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,865 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in New York Times by 210.7% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,609,513 shares of the company's stock worth $79,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,430 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in New York Times during the third quarter worth about $58,209,000. 95.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

New York Times Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NYT opened at $57.09 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $57.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.33. New York Times has a 1 year low of $44.83 and a 1 year high of $62.24. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.16.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. New York Times had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.55%. The firm had revenue of $685.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that New York Times will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 8th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. New York Times's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.11%.

New York Times Company Profile

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company's mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.

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