News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives $37.02 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.02.

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

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $26.45 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.39. News has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.61. The stock has a market cap of $14.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.98 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. News’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that News will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of News by 16.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448,929 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its position in News by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,934,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,877,000 after buying an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in News by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after acquiring an additional 4,214,562 shares during the period. 59 North Capital Management LP increased its stake in News by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,224,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358,375 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in News by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,169,000 after acquiring an additional 88,157 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is 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.