News (NASDAQ:NWS) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

News (NASDAQ:NWS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWS opened at $31.52 on Monday. News has a 1-year low of $25.49 and a 1-year high of $35.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60 and a beta of 0.96.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.11. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. On average, research analysts expect that News will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in News by 5.3% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in News by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in News by 79.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in News by 3.0% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 34,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of News by 37.2% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

News Company Profile

News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York. Its businesses produce and distribute news, financial information, books, digital content and real estate listings across multiple platforms and geographies.

The company’s principal operations include Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial data and professional information services through publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News Corp Australia and News UK, which operate newspapers, digital news properties and other media brands; and HarperCollins Publishers, a global publisher of books in a broad range of categories.