Zacks Research Downgrades News (NASDAQ:NWSA) to Strong Sell

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

NWSA has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, News currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.68.

News Stock Down 1.9%

NWSA stock opened at $24.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. News has a 52 week low of $23.38 and a 52 week high of $31.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $26.17 and a 200 day moving average of $27.47.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.80% and a return on equity of 5.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth about $812,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in News by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 121,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,610,000 after buying an additional 4,244 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in News by 197.2% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 83,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,472,000 after buying an additional 55,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of News in the second quarter worth about $8,246,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting News this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2/Q4 beat: News reported $0.40 EPS vs. $0.33 expected and revenue rose ~5.5% year-over-year, topping estimates — a core fundamental beat that supports the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Share buyback expansion & division growth: Management signaled an expanded buyback program and highlighted continued double-digit growth at Dow Jones and in digital real-estate businesses — both actions that can boost EPS and investor confidence. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management tone: CEO flagged “favorable signs” for the second half and attributed revenue gains to Dow Jones and real-estate units — forward-looking commentary that supports expectations for continued improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst view & projections: Coverage remains constructive (consensus “Moderate Buy”); Wall Street models and metric-level previews (traffic, subscriptions, real-estate listings trends) will guide reactions in coming sessions. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Deeper metric reviews: Analyst write-ups and Zacks previews dig into segment KPIs (Dow Jones subscriptions, realtor.com user trends) to help interpret the quarter beyond headline EPS/revenue. Expect these metrics to drive next moves as investors parse durability of growth. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/market reaction: Despite the beat, shares are trading below the 50- and 200-day moving averages and saw higher-than-normal volume today — signs of profit-taking or that investors had already priced in good news. That technical pressure can mute positive fundamental headlines. Article Title

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.