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

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 23,820,000 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the December 15th total of 25,540,000 shares. Approximately 10.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO John Nallen sold 182,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 186,871 shares of FOX stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.22, for a total transaction of $8,637,177.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 469,352 shares of company stock valued at $20,822,072 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FOX

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FOXA. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in FOX by 142.5% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of FOX in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of FOX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of FOX by 3,551.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FOX in the third quarter worth $119,000. Institutional investors own 52.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FOXA shares. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of FOX from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on FOX from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on FOX from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of FOX in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of FOX in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.00.

FOX Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FOXA traded down $0.32 on Friday, hitting $48.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,970,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,980,282. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.69. The stock has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.75. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. FOX had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The company had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that FOX will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.