News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 36.8% in April to 16,003,969 shares (about 3.3% of the float), producing a days-to-cover of roughly 4.6 based on average daily volume.
• Analysts are mixed but mildly positive: three Buy and three Hold ratings give a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $37.02, after several recent upgrades and downgrades.
• Shares traded at $26.16 with a market cap of $14.53 billion and a trailing P/E of 12.89; the company beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.40 vs. $0.33), reported 5.5% revenue growth year-over-year, and paid a $0.10 dividend.

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 16,003,969 shares, a growth of 36.8% from the March 31st total of 11,697,467 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,459,102 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NWSA shares. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of News during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of News during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in News during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in News in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in News by 154.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company's stock.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $26.16. The stock had a trading volume of 4,298,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,168,052. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. News has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. News's revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that News will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. News's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

News Company Profile

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.

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