News (NASDAQ:NWS) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

News (NASDAQ:NWS) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

News Price Performance

News stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.62. 48,022 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,546,469. The company’s fifty day moving average is $27.35 and its 200-day moving average is $29.23. 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 $25.49 and a 52 week high of $35.58. The firm has a market cap of $15.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09 and a beta of 0.90.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released 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. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of News

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,163,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344,287 shares during the last quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd lifted its stake in News by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd now owns 4,273,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,630,000 after purchasing an additional 886,156 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,728,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,314,000 after purchasing an additional 124,871 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of News by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,960,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,733,000 after purchasing an additional 7,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of News by 2,991.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,947,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,066 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About News

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.