News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on NWSA. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, News has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

News Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $15.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.85 and a 200-day moving average of $27.74. News has a one year low of $22.65 and a one year high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in News by 2,392.9% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in News in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in News in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors 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 through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.