Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.08.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of FOX from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on FOX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on FOX from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of FOX from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of FOX from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

FOX Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FOXA opened at $41.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.41 and its 200 day moving average is $35.89. The stock has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.76. FOX has a 1-year low of $28.28 and a 1-year high of $42.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. FOX had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FOX will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FOX Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from FOX’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. FOX’s payout ratio is presently 17.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lachlan K. Murdoch bought 119,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.06 per share, for a total transaction of $4,675,677.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,076,407 shares in the company, valued at $42,044,457.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other FOX news, CEO Lachlan K. Murdoch purchased 119,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.06 per share, for a total transaction of $4,675,677.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,076,407 shares in the company, valued at $42,044,457.42. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Nallen sold 52,874 shares of FOX stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.96, for a total transaction of $2,059,971.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 249,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,717,559.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FOX

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in FOX during the third quarter valued at $141,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of FOX by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in shares of FOX by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 233,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,888,000 after purchasing an additional 79,200 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in FOX in the 3rd quarter worth about $531,000. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in FOX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $335,000. 52.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.