News (NASDAQ:NWS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $35.32 and last traded at $35.31, with a volume of 379872 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $35.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NWS. Zacks Research lowered shares of News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.11. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.The company had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 60.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in News by 102.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 844,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,079,000 after buying an additional 427,841 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of News during the first quarter worth $5,408,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,344,287 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 268,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 101,018 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 1st quarter valued at $1,159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

News Company Profile

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.