News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

News Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $25.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 0.89. News has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.News’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. Analysts predict that News will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in News by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. increased its stake in shares of News by 5.0% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of News by 5.9% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.