Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $4.38 Million in News Corporation $NWSA

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 142,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,381,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in News by 488.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,054,000 after buying an additional 6,742,836 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $195,910,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of News by 7.3% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,170,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $866,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980,941 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of News by 1,025.4% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,904,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,615,000 after buying an additional 1,735,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of News by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 12,650,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,984,000 after buying an additional 1,503,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.71. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.68% and a net margin of 13.80%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NWSA. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.68.

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.