News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.80.

Several research analysts have issued reports on NWSA shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut their target price on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in News by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,458,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,850,000 after purchasing an additional 338,958 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of News by 381.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 192,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 152,864 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News during the 4th quarter valued at about $374,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of News by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,594,000 after buying an additional 12,345 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Stock Up 0.4 %

NWSA opened at $26.38 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.47 and its 200-day moving average is $27.72. News has a one year low of $22.65 and a one year high of $30.69. The company has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a PE ratio of 36.14 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. On average, equities analysts predict that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.40%.

News Company Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.