News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Receives $39.25 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Buy" by the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.25.

Several analysts recently weighed in on NWSA shares. StockNews.com raised News from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised News from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

News Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA traded down $0.39 during trading on Monday, hitting $26.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,033,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,506,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73. News has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $28.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.79. The company has a market capitalization of $15.19 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64 and a beta of 1.34.

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News (NASDAQ:NWSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that News will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. News's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On News

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company's stock worth $1,403,227,000 after buying an additional 632,721 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of News by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company's stock worth $733,039,000 after buying an additional 2,812,080 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of News by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company's stock worth $689,397,000 after buying an additional 1,476,224 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company's stock worth $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Finally, Dodge & Cox lifted its position in News by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company's stock worth $321,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,278 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.