Brokerages Set News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) Target Price at $37.02

Shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.02.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NWSA shares. 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. Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of News by 0.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of News by 2.9% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of News by 4.3% during the third quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of News by 1.3% during the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its position in shares of News by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 11,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Price Performance

NWSA stock opened at $26.31 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.43. The stock has a market cap of $14.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 0.91. News has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that News will post 0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

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