River Road Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in News Corporation $NWSA

River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 368,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,615,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of News by 16.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in News by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in News by 39.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares during the period. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of News by 10.7% in the third quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,224,000 after buying an additional 1,358,375 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,169,000 after buying an additional 88,157 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWSA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $25.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.88. News Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.15 and a 200-day moving average of $25.46.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.