News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.14, Zacks reports. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS.

News Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of News stock traded up $0.47 on Wednesday, hitting $29.06. The company had a trading volume of 7,319,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,289,739. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.78 and a 200-day moving average of $25.66. 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 has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in News by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448,929 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of News by 11.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,072,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,607,000 after buying an additional 947,687 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of News by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,445,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,609,000 after buying an additional 739,654 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of News by 2,348.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,664,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,961,000 after buying an additional 5,433,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of News by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,412,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,376,000 after buying an additional 500,010 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of News in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $37.14.

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.