News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NWSA. Guggenheim upped their price target on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup began coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.80.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $26.28 on Monday. News has a 52-week low of $22.65 and a 52-week high of $30.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a PE ratio of 36.00 and a beta of 1.24.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. City Holding Co. grew its position in shares of News by 29.6% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 18,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 4,254 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of News by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 14,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,759 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of News during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News in the first quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in News by 5.7% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 86,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.