News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the four research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 104.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 153.1% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.22 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.89. News has a twelve month low of $16.35 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that News will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

News Company Profile

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