Short Interest in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Expands By 6.3%

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,440,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the February 29th total of 16,410,000 shares. Approximately 7.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

FOX Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FOXA opened at $31.41 on Thursday. FOX has a twelve month low of $28.28 and a twelve month high of $35.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.41. The company has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

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

FOX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. FOX’s payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOXA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FOX during the fourth quarter worth about $82,385,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in FOX by 67.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,640,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,993,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,923 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in FOX by 453.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,029,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662,748 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in FOX by 288.4% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,893,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in FOX by 128.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,294,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287,911 shares during the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FOXA shares. Citigroup raised shares of FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of FOX from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of FOX from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. TheStreet lowered shares of FOX from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of FOX from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FOX has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.40.

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.