News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.97%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $22.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.10 and its 200 day moving average is $27.42. News has a 1-year low of $22.41 and a 1-year high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.99.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 83.0%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.66%.

Trending Headlines about News

Here are the key news stories impacting News this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue beat—News reported $0.40 EPS vs. $0.33 expected and revenue of $2.36B (vs. $2.30B consensus), with revenue up ~5.5% year-over-year; management highlighted strength at Dow Jones, digital real estate and book publishing. News Corporation Q2 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management signaled an expanded buyback and highlighted continued double-digit growth at Dow Jones and digital real estate — a capital-return and growth mix that typically supports share prices. News Corporation signals expanded buyback and continued double-digit growth in Dow Jones and digital real estate
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend declared—News announced a $0.10 per-share dividend with a record date of March 11 and payment April 8, which can attract income-focused holders and support demand. (Company release)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst consensus remains mixed-to-modestly positive: some outlets report a “moderate buy”/bullish tilt from street analysts even though the stock has underperformed the broader market over the past year. News Corporation Stock: Is Wall Street Bullish or Bearish?
• Neutral Sentiment: Deeper-quarter analysis available — writeups compare key metrics to estimates and prior-year results, useful for investors assessing sustainability of growth and margins. Compared to Estimates, News Corp. (NWSA) Q2 Earnings: A Look at Key Metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade—Zacks Research cut the stock from “hold” to “strong sell,” which likely amplified selling pressure after the report. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/flow pressure—trading has been heavier than average and the shares are trading near their 52-week low, which can trigger short-term weakness from momentum and stop-loss activity. (Market trading data)

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in News by 488.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after acquiring an additional 6,742,836 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of News by 16.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,706,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,449,552 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of News by 72.7% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,861,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,321,000 after purchasing an additional 783,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its stake in News by 367.7% during the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 661,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,310,000 after buying an additional 519,938 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NWSA. Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research cut News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.53.

News Company Profile

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.