News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) from "buy" to "hold"; analysts are split (three Buy, three Hold) and MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $37.02 price target.
• News beat Q4 expectations with EPS of $0.40 vs. $0.33 and revenue of $2.36B (+5.5% year-over-year), and analysts expect about $0.97 EPS for the current year.
• NWSA opened at $26.20, has a market cap of $14.55B and a P/E of 12.91, trading near the low end of its 12‑month range ($22.20–$31.61), which may help explain recent rating and target adjustments.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

NWSA has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings cut News from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Price Performance

NWSA stock opened at $26.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.91. News has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in News in the second quarter worth $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in News in the third quarter worth $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in News in the third quarter worth $35,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in News in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in News by 154.5% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company's stock.

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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