Analysts Set News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) PT at $29.50

Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

A number of research firms have weighed in on NWSA. TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Macquarie raised News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th.

News Stock Performance

NWSA opened at $24.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.58 and a 200-day moving average of $23.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.44. News has a 52-week low of $16.35 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a PE ratio of 60.45 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a return on equity of 4.14% and a net margin of 2.29%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that News will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

Institutional Trading of News

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NWSA. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in News in the third quarter worth $3,045,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 104.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new stake in News in the third quarter valued at about $639,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new position in News in the third quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in News by 19.2% during the third quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 131,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,628,000 after purchasing an additional 21,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.