Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for News (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stock Price

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 41.28% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on NWSA. Guggenheim increased their target price on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

News Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $14.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.57 and a 200-day moving average of $27.72. News has a one year low of $22.65 and a one year high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of News

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of News during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of News during the 1st quarter worth approximately $245,000. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of News by 5.7% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 86,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in News by 9.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 746,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,313,000 after purchasing an additional 66,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 2,902.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 246,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,711,000 after acquiring an additional 238,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

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.