Short Interest in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Declines By 20.9%

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

Insider Buying and Selling at FOX

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of FOX by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,340,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,194,000 after acquiring an additional 425,186 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of FOX by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,815,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,344,000 after acquiring an additional 39,959 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of FOX by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,501,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,111,000 after acquiring an additional 511,554 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $132,161,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of FOX by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,676,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,043,000 after acquiring an additional 219,016 shares during the period. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FOX Stock Performance

Shares of FOX stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $52.38. 3,036,763 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,092,361. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.67. FOX has a one year low of $29.53 and a one year high of $58.74. 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 (NASDAQ:FOXA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. FOX had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 14.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that FOX will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FOX Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FOXA shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on FOX from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on FOX from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on FOX from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on FOX and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.19.

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.