News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.50.

NWSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Zacks Research lowered News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in News by 18.9% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 8,271 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in News by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of News by 796.0% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 364,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,058,000 after purchasing an additional 324,081 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 18,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 4,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maven Securities LTD grew its stake in shares of News by 21.9% during the second quarter. Maven Securities LTD now owns 271,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,731,000 after purchasing an additional 48,622 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

News Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $30.18 on Friday. News has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $31.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.81. The stock has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 0.91.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that News will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a yield of 68.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

About News

News Corp is a global media and information-services company headquartered in New York. The company owns and operates businesses in news, publishing, digital real estate services and subscription-based information products, serving consumers, businesses and professional audiences across multiple markets.

Its portfolio includes Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial information and research through publications and services such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News UK, publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun; and News Corp Australia, which operates newspapers and digital media brands.