Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its position in shares of Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,441 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in FOX were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in FOX in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of FOX by 142.5% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of FOX in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of FOX during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in FOX by 3,551.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at FOX

In other FOX news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 186,871 shares of FOX stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.22, for a total value of $8,637,177.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction of $69,178.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,618,324.61. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 21.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of FOX from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of FOX from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on FOX from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered FOX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on FOX from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.19.

FOX Price Performance

Shares of FOXA opened at $53.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The company has a market cap of $24.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.40, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.76. Fox Co. has a 12 month low of $28.28 and a 12 month high of $55.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.30.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.34. FOX had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Fox Co. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. FOX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.56%.

FOX 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.