Brokerages Set News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Price Target at $37.02

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.02.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NWSA shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in News by 0.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of News by 2.9% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of News by 4.3% in the third quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of News by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its holdings in News by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NWSA stock opened at $24.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.00. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. Analysts expect that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

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.