News (NASDAQ:NWS) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $25.51 and last traded at $25.8810, with a volume of 798945 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, News currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

News Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $14.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 0.97.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%. Sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 73.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. L1 Capital Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of News during the third quarter worth $117,040,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in News by 2,991.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,947,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,691,000 after buying an additional 1,884,066 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of News by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,819,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,700,000 after buying an additional 1,657,727 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of News in the third quarter valued at about $19,456,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of News by 100.5% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,047,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,192,000 after acquiring an additional 525,119 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company’s operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.