Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 85,624 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 763,163 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 85,624 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in News were worth $19,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Swedbank AB increased its stake in News by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 192,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,024,000 after purchasing an additional 83,821 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of News by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 823,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,580,000 after buying an additional 102,259 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of News during the third quarter worth about $8,799,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of News in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,927,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in News by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,770,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,389,000 after acquiring an additional 330,513 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $26.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.44. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. News’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on NWSA shares. Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

About News

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.