News Corporation Plans Dividend of $0.10 (NASDAQ:NWS)

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) announced a dividend on Thursday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share on Wednesday, April 8th. This represents a yield of 73.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th.

News has a payout ratio of 19.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect News to earn $0.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

News Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ NWS opened at $26.56 on Friday. News has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $35.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.25. The company has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.97.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.80% and a return on equity of 5.68%. Equities analysts forecast that News will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NWS shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded News to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.