Brokerages Set News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Target Price at $39.25

Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.80.

Several analysts recently issued reports on NWSA shares. UBS Group raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 2,392.9% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of News during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in News during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.14 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.72. News has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. On average, equities research analysts predict that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

News Company Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.