Citigroup Lowers News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Price Target to $38.00

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 42.24% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on NWSA. Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of News in a research report on Sunday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.14.

News Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ NWSA traded up $0.18 on Wednesday, reaching $26.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,703,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,288,080. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.89. 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 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $31.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.40.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of News by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of News by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of News by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 151,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

About News

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.