Dodge & Cox Cuts Stake in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA)

Dodge & Cox lessened its stake in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,098,016 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,357,231 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned 4.62% of FOX worth $1,024,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FOXA. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in FOX in the fourth quarter worth about $7,628,000. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in FOX in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,236,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new position in FOX in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $134,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in FOX during the 4th quarter valued at $1,136,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of FOX by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 22,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at FOX

In related news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.17, for a total value of $3,083,860.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,200,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,849,832.54. This trade represents a 4.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $69,178.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,324.61. This trade represents a 4.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FOXA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on FOX from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of FOX from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Moffett Nathanson cut shares of FOX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Cfra Research raised shares of FOX from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on FOX from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FOX presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.06.

FOX Price Performance

Shares of FOXA opened at $49.53 on Tuesday. Fox Co. has a 1-year low of $30.02 and a 1-year high of $58.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The stock has a market cap of $22.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.99.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. FOX had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fox Co. will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. FOX’s payout ratio is 11.56%.

About FOX

Fox Corporation operates as a news, sports, and entertainment company in the United States (U.S.). The company operates through four segments: Cable Network Programming, Television, Credible, and The FOX Studio Lot. The Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news and sports content for distribution through traditional cable television systems, direct broadcast satellite operators and telecommunication companies, virtual multi-channel video programming distributors, and other digital platforms primarily in the U.S.