News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NWSA. TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $24.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.89. News has a one year low of $16.35 and a one year high of $28.00.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Institutional Trading of News

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in News by 104.8% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in News by 153.1% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in News during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in News during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in News by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

About News

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.