Atria Investments Inc Raises Stock Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS)

Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,656 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,838 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in News were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NWS. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in News in the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in News in the fourth quarter worth approximately $384,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in News by 136.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in News in the fourth quarter worth $823,000. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 25,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $780,000 after buying an additional 2,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

News Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of News stock opened at $30.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.42. The company has a market cap of $17.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.44 and a beta of 1.37. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.99 and a fifty-two week high of $35.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that News Co. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.6%. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

News Company 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.