News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Short Interest Update

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,480,000 shares, a drop of 16.7% from the March 15th total of 6,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on NWSA. StockNews.com cut shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup started coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, News presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.80.

News Price Performance

Shares of News stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 151,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,794,829. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.33 and a beta of 1.24. News has a one year low of $22.65 and a one year high of $30.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.71.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in News by 2.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 44,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in News by 25.5% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 176,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,797,000 after purchasing an additional 35,857 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in News during the first quarter worth $257,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of News by 103.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,898 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About News

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.