Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Sells 22,000 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 32.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,000 shares during the quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in News were worth $1,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NWSA. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of News by 153.1% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in shares of News in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of News by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of News by 120.5% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

News Price Performance

News stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $23.97. 1,591,848 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,715,676. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.98. News Co. has a 1-year low of $16.35 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.83 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. News’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NWSA shares. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Macquarie upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

About News

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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.