News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.20.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NWSA shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $28.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.86. The stock has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43 and a beta of 1.30. News has a 1-year low of $23.38 and a 1-year high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in News by 2,392.9% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in News during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in News during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in News during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in News by 12,084.6% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Company Profile

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.