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

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.14.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.37. The company had a trading volume of 2,165,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,756,671. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.47. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that News will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWSA. State Street Corp raised its holdings in News by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 4.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of News by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 14,009,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358,375 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of News by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,458,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,169,000 after purchasing an additional 88,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of News by 11.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,607,000 after purchasing an additional 947,687 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Company Profile

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.