News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Given New $39.00 Price Target at Citigroup

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) had its price objective decreased by Citigroup from $40.00 to $39.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on News in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.02.

News Price Performance

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $22.74 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.34. News has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.99.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results 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. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 83.0%. News’s payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in News in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of News during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in News during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in News during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.