Norges Bank Makes New Investment in News Corporation $NWSA

Norges Bank bought a new position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,227,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,788,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its position in News by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 192,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,024,000 after purchasing an additional 83,821 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in News by 39.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in News by 22.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,770,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,389,000 after purchasing an additional 330,513 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in News by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 823,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,580,000 after purchasing an additional 102,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of News in the third quarter worth about $8,799,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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 note on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup decreased 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 reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.14.

News Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NWSA opened at $26.05 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.71 and its 200 day moving average is $25.39. The company has a market capitalization of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 0.88. News Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $31.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Research analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.