Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Buys 99,470 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS - Free Report) by 200.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,136 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 99,470 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in News were worth $4,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in News by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,535,237 shares of the company's stock worth $198,867,000 after purchasing an additional 138,680 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of News by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,855,707 shares of the company's stock worth $86,799,000 after purchasing an additional 13,329 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of News by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 845,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,721,000 after buying an additional 125,852 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of News by 101.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 496,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,889,000 after buying an additional 249,659 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in News during the 4th quarter worth $14,338,000. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWS stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 504,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,330. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $31.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.10 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.99 and a fifty-two week high of $35.25.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. Sell-side analysts forecast that News Co. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News's payout ratio is 27.40%.

News Profile

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 through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.