Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,510,000 shares, a drop of 6.6% from the October 15th total of 23,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.4 days. Approximately 9.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.05, for a total value of $4,205,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,258,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,935,147.10. This represents a 7.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Nallen sold 182,481 shares of FOX stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $7,979,894.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 249,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,907,311.52. This represents a 42.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in FOX by 11.0% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in FOX by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in FOX by 4.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in FOX by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in FOX by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 49,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FOX Stock Performance

Shares of FOX stock opened at $45.38 on Tuesday. FOX has a 52 week low of $28.28 and a 52 week high of $47.58. The company has a market capitalization of $20.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. FOX had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 13.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that FOX will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FOXA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FOX from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on FOX from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of FOX from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of FOX in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on FOX from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.00.

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.