StockNews.com Upgrades News (NASDAQ:NWSA) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

News Price Performance

News stock opened at $28.32 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.87. News has a 1 year low of $23.38 and a 1 year high of $30.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.80 and a beta of 1.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. News’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 124.0% during the 3rd 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 period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 4th quarter worth $374,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of News by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,594,000 after acquiring an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of News by 374.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 204.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 344,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,447,000 after acquiring an additional 231,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

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.