News Corporation (NWSA) – What Are Researchers Saying About This Stock?

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.80.

NWSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on News in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised News from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd.

News Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of News stock opened at $30.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18 and a beta of 0.97. News has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $31.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that News will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a yield of 68.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in News by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its holdings in News by 26.4% in the first quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 8,835,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,900 shares during the last quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board grew its holdings in News by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 7,365,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,383,000 after purchasing an additional 275,480 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of News by 2.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,245,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,842,000 after buying an additional 94,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of News by 80.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,069,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,441,000 after buying an additional 1,819,652 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About News

News Corp is a global media and information-services company whose Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol NWSA. The company operates a portfolio of businesses spanning digital and print publishing, subscription products, professional information, real estate services and book publishing.

Its principal businesses include Dow Jones, which provides financial news, data, research and professional information through publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News Corp Australia and News UK, which operate newspapers and digital news platforms; and HarperCollins Publishers, which publishes fiction, nonfiction, educational and religious titles.