Zacks Research Upgrades News (NASDAQ:NWSA) to Hold

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on shares of News in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings cut News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.02.

News Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $24.62. 3,647,031 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,265,564. News has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.62.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.News’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of News during the 4th quarter worth about $188,788,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of News by 488.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after acquiring an additional 6,742,836 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,433,332 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in News by 16.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,673,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in News by 39.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About News

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.