News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James Financial

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial to a “moderate buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on NWSA. Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Zacks Research cut News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.80.

News Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $30.65 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.76 and a beta of 0.97. News has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that News will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of News by 3.3% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of News by 5.0% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in News by 1.1% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its holdings in News by 9.6% in the first quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 9,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in News during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Company Profile

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.