News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $20.59, but opened at $19.65. News shares last traded at $19.01, with a volume of 481,118 shares traded.
The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. News had a net margin of 4.51% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have commented on NWSA. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of News to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 20th. Loop Capital upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.03.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On News
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in News by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 27,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in News by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 110,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund lifted its holdings in shares of News by 1.2% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 51,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in News by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of News by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 167,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,054,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. 63.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
News Stock Down 8.6 %
The stock has a market capitalization of $10.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.53 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.
News Company Profile
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.