News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $38.50 According to Analysts

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.50.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NWSA. Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of News in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

News Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $28.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.66.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.14. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. News’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that News will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 68.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Andra AP fonden raised its stake in shares of News by 1,767.4% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 268,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,677,000 after buying an additional 254,500 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 8,271 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in News by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in News by 796.0% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 364,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,058,000 after acquiring an additional 324,081 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in News by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 18,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 4,555 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About News

News Corp is a global media and information-services company headquartered in New York. The company owns and operates businesses in news, publishing, digital real estate services and subscription-based information products, serving consumers, businesses and professional audiences across multiple markets.

Its portfolio includes Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial information and research through publications and services such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News UK, publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun; and News Corp Australia, which operates newspapers and digital media brands.