News (NASDAQ:NWS) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWS opened at $31.52 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60 and a beta of 0.96. News has a 1 year low of $25.49 and a 1 year high of $35.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.95.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.11. News had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 6.35%.The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that News will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 60.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of News by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in News by 21.1% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of News by 79.4% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of News by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 34,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of News by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

About News

News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York. Its businesses produce and distribute news, financial information, books, digital content and real estate listings across multiple platforms and geographies.

The company’s principal operations include Dow Jones, which provides business news, financial data and professional information services through publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s; News Corp Australia and News UK, which operate newspapers, digital news properties and other media brands; and HarperCollins Publishers, a global publisher of books in a broad range of categories.