News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

NWSA has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 target price on shares of News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Stock Up 1.4%

NWSA opened at $22.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.99. News has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 83.0%. News’s payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWSA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in News by 5.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of News in the 1st quarter worth $206,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 1st quarter worth $204,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of News by 44.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 16,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 5,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of News in the second quarter valued at about $545,000. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.