Short Interest in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Drops By 11.9%

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,460,000 shares, a decrease of 11.9% from the January 31st total of 24,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days. Currently, 9.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

FOX Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of FOXA stock opened at $55.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.31 and a 200-day moving average of $46.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. FOX has a 1-year low of $28.67 and a 1-year high of $58.74.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FOX will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on FOX from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut FOX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on FOX from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on FOX from $50.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.19.

Insider Activity

In other FOX news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $63,849,832.54. This represents a 4.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 29,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,324.61. The trade was 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 currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of FOX by 10.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,125,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,649,000 after acquiring an additional 110,753 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of FOX in the third quarter worth $546,000. Invst LLC bought a new stake in FOX during the third quarter valued at $740,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in FOX by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 118,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after buying an additional 23,704 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in FOX during the third quarter valued at $2,867,000. Institutional investors own 52.52% of the company’s stock.

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.