News Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 (NASDAQ:NWSA)

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share on Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%.

News has a payout ratio of 20.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect News to earn $1.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.0%.

News Stock Up 0.9 %

NWSA stock opened at $28.78 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.57. The company has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.42 and a beta of 1.35. News has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.03.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 3.49%. Analysts anticipate that News will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on NWSA shares. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim lifted their target price on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Loop Capital reduced their target price on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.