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

Key Points

• News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from eight analysts, with a 12-month price target averaging $38.12.
• The company recently announced a $0.10 dividend scheduled for payment on October 8th, with a high dividend yield of 70.0%.
• News reported a 0.19 EPS for the last quarter, meeting expectations, with revenue up by 0.8% year-over-year, totaling $2.11 billion.

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.1167.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NWSA. Wall Street Zen downgraded News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $32.70 price objective on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th.

News Stock Up 2.8%

NWSA opened at $29.62 on Thursday. News has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $30.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.03 and a 200-day moving average of $28.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of News

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oribel Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of News during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,445,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of News by 6.9% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,287,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,720,000 after purchasing an additional 148,532 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of News by 1,523.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 741,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,051,000 after purchasing an additional 696,265 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC increased its position in shares of News by 3.0% during the second quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 481,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,325,000 after purchasing an additional 14,087 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of News by 81.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 554,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,478,000 after purchasing an additional 249,343 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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