News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.27 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.98. News has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in News during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of News in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of News during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in News by 154.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently 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.