News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) Plans $0.10 Semi-annual Dividend

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) declared a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share on Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th.

News has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect News to earn $0.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWS opened at $31.82 on Monday. News has a 1 year low of $23.99 and a 1 year high of $35.25. The company has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.59 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.91 and a 200-day moving average of $30.38.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

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.