News Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 (NASDAQ:NWSA)

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share on Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%.

News has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect News to earn $1.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.0%.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $28.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $28.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a PE ratio of 45.97 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.38. News has a one year low of $22.65 and a one year high of $30.03.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) 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 4.76% and a net margin of 3.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that News will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NWSA. Guggenheim upped their target price on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Loop Capital lowered their price target on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

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.