News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.25.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NWSA shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research raised News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in News by 16.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,673,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,137,691 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of News by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,169,000 after purchasing an additional 88,157 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in News by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,607,000 after buying an additional 947,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in News by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 8,835,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,260,000 after buying an additional 1,843,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

NWSA stock opened at $29.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.88. News has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Analysts predict that News will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.