News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of News (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

Separately, Loop Capital raised News from a hold rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $26.03.

News Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $15.91 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $18.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.17. News has a 12 month low of $14.87 and a 12 month high of $23.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60 and a beta of 1.31.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.11). News had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 5.13%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that News will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. News’s payout ratio is 38.46%.

Insider Transactions at News

In related news, General Counsel David B. Pitofsky sold 23,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $409,212.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 63,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,101,961.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 13.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of News

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in News in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in News by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in News by 289.4% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in News by 3,529.0% in the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the period. 63.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About News

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News Corp. is a media and information services company, which engages in the creation and distribution of content and other services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other. The Digital Real Estate Services segment refers to the firm’s interest in the REA Group, a company with operations focused on property and property-related advertising and services, as well as financial services.