News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on NWSA. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on shares of News in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, News has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

NWSA stock opened at $24.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. News has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The company has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $25.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.62.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of News

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of News during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in News during the second quarter worth $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in News during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in News by 154.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

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.