News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives $37.14 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.14.

NWSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its position in shares of News by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of News by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of News by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $25.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.06 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.88. News has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that News will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About News

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.