News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Upgraded at Raymond James Financial

Key Points

• Raymond James upgraded News Corp to a “moderate buy” rating. Overall, analysts are moderately bullish, with six Buy ratings, one Hold rating, and an average price target of $37.80.
• News Corp’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.35 versus the $0.21 consensus estimate and revenue of $2.34 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• NWSA shares opened at $30.65, near their 52-week high of $31.66, while institutional investors own approximately 66.97% of the company.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Raymond James Financial to a "moderate buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research cut News from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on News from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of News in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.80.

News Stock Up 2.0%

NWSA stock opened at $30.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.51. News has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $31.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.61. The firm has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76 and a beta of 0.97.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. News's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that News will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in shares of News in the third quarter valued at about $79,840,000. Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of News by 26.4% in the first quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 8,835,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,260,000 after buying an additional 1,843,900 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of News by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,069,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,819,652 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in News by 120.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,326,616 shares of the company's stock worth $58,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272,083 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of News by 174.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 1,911,329 shares of the company's stock worth $47,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

About News

News Corp is a global media and information-services company whose Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol NWSA. The company operates a portfolio of businesses spanning digital and print publishing, subscription products, professional information, real estate services and book publishing.

Its principal businesses include Dow Jones, which provides financial news, data, research and professional information through publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron's; News Corp Australia and News UK, which operate newspapers and digital news platforms; and HarperCollins Publishers, which publishes fiction, nonfiction, educational and religious titles.

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