News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a 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. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.02.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $24.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.88. News has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The company has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of News by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in News during the first quarter worth about $206,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in News during the first quarter worth about $204,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in News by 44.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 16,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 5,106 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $545,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Company Profile

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.