Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,304 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of News by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 9.5% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 6,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 13,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in News by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 33,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in News by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 131,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,231,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $25.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.41. News Co. has a one year low of $18.09 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.08 and a beta of 1.35.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. News had a return on equity of 4.28% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NWSA. Macquarie raised News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.