News (NASDAQ:NWS) Share Price Breaks Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.88 and traded as high as $33.50. News shares last traded at $33.39, with a volume of 1,807,430 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on NWS. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $18.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of News by 2.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,761,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,233,000 after buying an additional 46,837 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in News by 102.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 844,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,079,000 after acquiring an additional 427,841 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in News by 0.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 699,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in News by 128.0% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 681,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,429,000 after acquiring an additional 382,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in News by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 268,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,971,000 after acquiring an additional 101,018 shares in the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company with businesses spanning news, publishing, digital real estate services and subscription-based content. The company operates through a portfolio of brands that serve consumers, professionals and businesses across multiple markets.

Its major operations include Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial information and data through publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News Corp Australia and News UK, which publish newspapers and digital news platforms; and HarperCollins Publishers, a global book publishing company.