News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on NWSA. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

News Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of News stock opened at $27.90 on Thursday. News has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The firm has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of News

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of News by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,764,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,409,030,000 after buying an additional 812,180 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in News by 2.2% in the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 27,189,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,101,000 after purchasing an additional 572,331 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its position in News by 18.7% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,183,613 shares during the period. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP raised its position in News by 24.4% in the first quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 11,147,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,542 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About News

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.