Short Interest in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Grows By 8.5%

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,930,000 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the March 15th total of 17,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

FOX Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FOXA traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.44. The stock had a trading volume of 728,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,414,631. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.78. FOX has a twelve month low of $28.28 and a twelve month high of $35.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.37.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.24. FOX had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that FOX will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FOX Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. FOX’s payout ratio is 30.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FOX from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup raised FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research raised FOX from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of FOX in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FOX has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FOX

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FOXA. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of FOX by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 41,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of FOX by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of FOX by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 10,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC increased its stake in shares of FOX by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 23,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of FOX by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About FOX

Fox Corporation operates as a news, sports, and entertainment company in the United States (U.S.). The company operates through Cable Network Programming; Television; and Other, Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news, business 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.