Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Position in Fox Corporation $FOXA

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group raised its stake in Fox Corporation by 3.0% in Q4 to 572,145 shares (about 0.13% of the company), valued at approximately $41.8 million.
• Significant insider selling: COO John Nallen sold 242,309 shares and CEO Lachlan Murdoch sold 637,752 shares, with insiders offloading 1,586,871 shares worth $91.9 million over the past three months, leaving insiders with 19.68% ownership.
• Fox beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.82 vs. $0.47; revenue $5.18B vs. $5.02B) and recently paid a $0.28 per-share dividend (record date March 4, paid March 25).

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOXA - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 572,145 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 16,716 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of FOX worth $41,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,916 shares of the company's stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of FOX in the 4th quarter valued at $337,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 47,947 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 6,147 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of FOX in the 4th quarter valued at $122,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 346.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 128,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,355,000 after purchasing an additional 99,363 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at FOX

In other FOX news, COO John Nallen sold 242,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.74, for a total transaction of $13,990,921.66. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 357,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,650,884.22. This trade represents a 40.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lachlan K. Murdoch sold 637,752 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.20, for a total transaction of $37,117,166.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 152 shares in the company, valued at $8,846.40. The trade was a 99.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 1,586,871 shares of company stock worth $91,893,926 over the last three months. 19.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FOX Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ FOXA opened at $63.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.44. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $58.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.39. The company has a market capitalization of $27.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 0.50. Fox Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.42 and a 12 month high of $76.39.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. FOX had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The company's revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fox Corporation will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FOX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. FOX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of FOX in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of FOX from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of FOX from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of FOX from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of FOX from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FOX presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.93.

FOX Company Profile

Fox Corporation NASDAQ: FOXA is a U.S.-based media company focused on television broadcasting, cable news and sports programming, and digital distribution. The company was formed in 2019 as the successor to certain assets of 21st Century Fox after a transaction that transferred many film and television studio assets to The Walt Disney Company. Fox Corp's operations center on the Fox Broadcasting network, a portfolio of local television stations, national news and business cable networks, and sports media properties.

Fox produces, acquires and distributes a range of live and recorded programming, including news, opinion and commentary, national and local sports telecasts, and general entertainment.

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