Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,970,000 shares, a decrease of 20.9% from the February 13th total of 21,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days. Currently, 7.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FOXA. UBS Group upped their price target on FOX from $50.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on FOX and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on FOX from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital increased their target price on FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut FOX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.19.

FOX Price Performance

NASDAQ FOXA traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, hitting $52.32. 639,244 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,817,802. The company has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. FOX has a 12-month low of $29.34 and a 12-month high of $58.74.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that FOX will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. FOX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.56%.

Insider Activity at FOX

In related news, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $69,178.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,618,324.61. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.17, for a total value of $3,083,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,200,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,849,832.54. The trade was a 4.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 21.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FOX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter worth approximately $987,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,855,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter worth $1,404,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of FOX by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 14,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter worth $324,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.52% of the company’s stock.

FOX Company Profile

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.