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

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

FOX Price Performance

Shares of FOX stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $30.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,287,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,421,045. FOX has a twelve month low of $28.28 and a twelve month high of $35.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.11 and its 200 day moving average is $30.37.

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

FOX Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of FOX

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in FOX by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 41,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of FOX by 1.7% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in FOX by 3.1% during the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 10,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in FOX by 1.6% during the third quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 23,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $720,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in FOX by 3.8% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on FOXA. Macquarie increased their target price on FOX from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of FOX in a research note on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup upgraded shares of FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $34.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of FOX from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.40.

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.