FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Fox Corporation's share price reached a new 52-week high of $58.99 with a trading volume of over 2.64 million shares.
• The company recently raised its dividend payout to $0.28, up from $0.18, with the next payment scheduled for September 24th.
• FOX's latest earnings report showed an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.27, surpassing analyst expectations by $0.26, and revenue growth of 6.3% compared to the previous year.

Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $58.82 and last traded at $58.99, with a volume of 2640314 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $56.13.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FOXA shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on FOX from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of FOX from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of FOX from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group set a $65.00 price objective on FOX and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Cfra Research raised FOX from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.93.

FOX Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.82.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. FOX had a return on equity of 18.86% and a net margin of 13.88%. FOX's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fox Corporation will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

FOX Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from FOX's previous dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. FOX's payout ratio is currently 11.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FOX news, CFO Steven Tomsic sold 5,607 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $310,459.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 133,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,415,316.51. This represents a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 21.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of FOX

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,739,628 shares of the company's stock worth $1,456,863,000 after buying an additional 518,835 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,815,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $185,344,000 after buying an additional 39,959 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 3.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,680,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,305,000 after buying an additional 107,687 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in FOX by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,501,659 shares of the company's stock worth $170,111,000 after purchasing an additional 511,554 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in FOX by 1.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,709,021 shares of the company's stock worth $153,331,000 after purchasing an additional 32,144 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.52% of the company's stock.

About FOX

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.

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