News (NASDAQ:NWS) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of News (NASDAQ:NWS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

News Price Performance

NWS opened at $28.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.23. The company has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 0.90. News has a twelve month low of $25.49 and a twelve month high of $35.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.15. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Equities analysts expect that News will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 73.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 97.0% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of News by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

About News

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.