News (NASDAQ:NWS) Sees Large Volume Increase - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• News Corp. shares traded heavily, with about 1.18 million shares changing hands and the stock rising to $33.05 from a $32.68 close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: Weiss upgraded the stock to “buy,” while Zacks downgraded it to “hold,” resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating.
• News Corp. beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.35 per share versus the $0.24 consensus, while institutional investors own 14.63% of the company and the board announced a $0.10 dividend.

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . 1,178,828 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the previous session's volume of 1,486,396 shares.The stock last traded at $33.0490 and had previously closed at $32.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWS has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research downgraded News from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

News Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.34.

News (NASDAQ:NWS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.11. News had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. On average, analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 60.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. News's payout ratio is presently 19.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NWS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in News by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,163,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $301,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,287 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of News by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 268,349 shares of the company's stock worth $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 101,018 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of News in the first quarter worth about $5,408,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new position in News during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,159,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in News by 896.1% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 55,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 50,180 shares in the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Company Profile

News Corporation NASDAQ: NWS is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company's operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.

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.

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