News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• News Corporation has received an average rating of "Buy" from eight analysts, with a price target averaging $38.62 for the next twelve months.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $0.19, meeting analysts' expectations, along with a revenue increase of 0.8% year-over-year.
• News Corporation is set to pay a $0.10 dividend on October 8th, following its half-year dividend announcement, which reflects a yield of 70.0%.

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.6167.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NWSA shares. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price objective on shares of News in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th.

Institutional Trading of News

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of News by 0.3% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 126,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,753,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 3.5% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 7.7% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,575 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of News by 0.6% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 74,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,200,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 5.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

News Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $29.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.84. News has a 1 year low of $23.38 and a 1 year high of $30.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.18.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%.The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 70.0%. News's dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

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.

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