News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price objective on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citigroup lowered their target price on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.02.

News Stock Up 0.5%

NWSA opened at $24.05 on Monday. News has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $13.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 0.98.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. News’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of News

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter worth $188,788,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 488.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after buying an additional 6,742,836 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of News by 2,348.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,664,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,961,000 after buying an additional 5,433,332 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in News by 16.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,356,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,448,929 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in News by 39.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,830,000 after acquiring an additional 4,214,562 shares during the last quarter. 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.