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

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) saw a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,970,000 shares, a decline of 20.9% from the February 13th total of 21,460,000 shares. Approximately 7.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

FOX Stock Down 0.2 %

FOX stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,036,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,092,361. FOX has a 52-week low of $29.53 and a 52-week high of $58.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.67. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.33.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.34. FOX had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FOX will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FOXA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on FOX from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on FOX from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Moffett Nathanson cut FOX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on FOX from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,200,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,849,832.54. The trade was a 4.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,618,324.61. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 21.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in FOX during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in FOX by 91.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in FOX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in FOX by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in FOX by 122.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.