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

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the recipient of a large 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 short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

FOX Price Performance

FOXA stock traded up $0.04 on Wednesday, hitting $30.44. 728,697 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,414,631. FOX has a 1-year low of $28.28 and a 1-year high of $35.40. The stock has a market cap of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.11 and a 200-day moving average of $30.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

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

FOX Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FOX

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 4.7% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 23,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FOX during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,784,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 1.7% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 300.1% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 58,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,818,000 after acquiring an additional 43,607 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of FOX during the first quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 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.