News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, News presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.68.

News Stock Down 1.9%

NWSA stock opened at $24.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.63. News has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.80% and a return on equity of 5.68%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. News’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of News during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in News during the third quarter worth about $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in News during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in News in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in News in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting News

Here are the key news stories impacting News this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2/Q4 beat: News reported $0.40 EPS vs. $0.33 expected and revenue rose ~5.5% year-over-year, topping estimates — a core fundamental beat that supports the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Share buyback expansion & division growth: Management signaled an expanded buyback program and highlighted continued double-digit growth at Dow Jones and in digital real-estate businesses — both actions that can boost EPS and investor confidence. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management tone: CEO flagged “favorable signs” for the second half and attributed revenue gains to Dow Jones and real-estate units — forward-looking commentary that supports expectations for continued improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst view & projections: Coverage remains constructive (consensus “Moderate Buy”); Wall Street models and metric-level previews (traffic, subscriptions, real-estate listings trends) will guide reactions in coming sessions. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Deeper metric reviews: Analyst write-ups and Zacks previews dig into segment KPIs (Dow Jones subscriptions, realtor.com user trends) to help interpret the quarter beyond headline EPS/revenue. Expect these metrics to drive next moves as investors parse durability of growth. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/market reaction: Despite the beat, shares are trading below the 50- and 200-day moving averages and saw higher-than-normal volume today — signs of profit-taking or that investors had already priced in good news. That technical pressure can mute positive fundamental headlines. Article Title

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.