News (NASDAQ:NWS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $33.24, but opened at $34.97. News shares last traded at $32.63, with a volume of 65,892 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

News Trading Up 2.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $19.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.47 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.28 and its 200 day moving average is $29.64.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWS. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of News by 4.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in News by 253.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in News by 101.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 496,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,889,000 after purchasing an additional 249,659 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in News by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in News by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 137,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,830,000 after acquiring an additional 2,609 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% 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.