News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Sunday.

NWSA has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on News in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, News currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $23.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81. News has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 83.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in News during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of News in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of News during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.