News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $30.69 and last traded at $30.49, with a volume of 2737742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, News has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

News Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.77 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $28.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business 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 is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

Institutional Trading of News

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in News by 2,392.9% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of News in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in News during the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in News in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

About News

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.