News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $28.69 on Friday. News has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $31.66. The firm has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.85 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.41 and a 200-day moving average of $27.17.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.News’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that News will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of News by 282.7% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,501 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in News by 96.2% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Havemeyer Place LP bought a new stake in News during the fourth quarter worth about $94,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in News by 79.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in News by 26.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Company Profile

News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global media and information-services company that creates and distributes news, business information, books, digital content and real estate services. Its operations serve consumers, professionals, institutions and businesses across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other international markets.

The company’s Dow Jones division provides business and financial news, data and information through publications and platforms including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Factiva and Dow Jones Newswires.