Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Short Interest Update

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,540,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the November 30th total of 23,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.4 days. Currently, 11.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other FOX news, COO John Nallen sold 182,481 shares of FOX stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $7,979,894.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 249,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,907,311.52. The trade was a 42.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $52,935,147.10. This trade represents a 7.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 469,352 shares of company stock worth $20,822,072. Insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FOX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of FOX by 10.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,125,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,649,000 after purchasing an additional 110,753 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in FOX by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in FOX by 108.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 177,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,369,000 after purchasing an additional 92,244 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 24.6% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 6,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FOX in the third quarter valued at about $3,587,000. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FOX Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of FOX stock opened at $48.84 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.05 and a 200 day moving average of $41.31. The company has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.77. FOX has a 52-week low of $28.28 and a 52-week high of $50.63. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. FOX had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that FOX will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FOXA. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of FOX in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of FOX in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of FOX from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FOX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FOX presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.87.

FOX Company Profile

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.