News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.80.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

News Stock Performance

News stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.06. The company had a trading volume of 4,454,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,818,085. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $26.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.81. News has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) 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). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company's stock worth $391,832,000 after buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in News in the fourth quarter worth $172,357,000. Asset Value Investors Ltd bought a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter worth $122,391,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of News by 291.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,941,467 shares of the company's stock worth $136,088,000 after purchasing an additional 3,678,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in News by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company's stock worth $733,039,000 after buying an additional 2,812,080 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About News

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.