News (NASDAQ:NWS) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

News (NASDAQ:NWS) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

News Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NWS opened at $31.27 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.23. The company has a market capitalization of $17.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.59. News has a 1-year low of $25.49 and a 1-year high of $35.58.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. Sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NWS. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 268,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 101,018 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in News by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,163,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,287 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in News during the first quarter valued at about $5,408,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of News by 896.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 55,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 50,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of News by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 871,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,831,000 after buying an additional 105,669 shares during the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company’s operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.