News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.02.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research lowered News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a research report on Friday.

News Trading Up 1.1%

NWSA stock opened at $22.74 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.05 and a 200-day moving average of $27.34. The company has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.99. News has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

News Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in News by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of News during the first quarter worth $206,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News during the first quarter worth $204,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in News by 44.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 16,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 5,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in News in the 2nd quarter worth $545,000. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Company Profile

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.