News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04, Zacks reports. News had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 4.76%.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $28.38. The company had a trading volume of 2,478,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,547,136. News has a 52-week low of $22.65 and a 52-week high of $30.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.57. The stock has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.61 and a beta of 1.35.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital cut 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. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.