News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.25.

Several brokerages recently commented on NWSA. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup assumed 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. Loop Capital lowered their price target on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $28.08 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.80. News has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. Equities research analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $990,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in News by 313.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 35,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 26,648 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in News by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,337,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,512,000 after buying an additional 53,550 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in News by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 180,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,801,000 after buying an additional 37,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

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.