News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.14.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NWSA. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $27.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.44. The stock has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 0.88. News has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that News will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in News in the 4th quarter valued at $188,788,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in News by 488.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after acquiring an additional 6,742,836 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in News by 2,348.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,664,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,961,000 after acquiring an additional 5,433,332 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in News by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in News by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,830,000 after acquiring an additional 4,214,562 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.