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

Key Points

• Analysts have given News Corporation an average rating of "Moderate Buy" (four buys, three holds) with a 12‑month average price target of $37.02.
• News beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $0.40 versus $0.33 and revenue of $2.36B versus $2.30B, and declared a $0.10 dividend (ex‑dividend March 11, payable April 8).
• Institutional investors own about 66.97% of the stock, with several funds adding to positions—Invesco notably increased its stake to ~8.45M shares (~$220.6M).

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.02.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NWSA shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on shares of News in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of News from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of News from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of News by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 763,163 shares of the company's stock worth $19,959,000 after acquiring an additional 85,624 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 LLC purchased a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $310,000. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,615,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in News by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 62,306 shares of the company's stock worth $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 19,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in News by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,445,993 shares of the company's stock worth $220,609,000 after purchasing an additional 739,654 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.45 and a 200 day moving average of $26.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $13.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.98. News has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The business's revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

About News

News Corporation NASDAQ: NWSA is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company's news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world's largest consumer publishers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.