Insider Selling: FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) CEO Sells 247,257 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch sold 247,257 shares on March 12 at an average price of $57.69 for about $14.26 million, cutting his stake by 58.48% to 175,524 shares.
• Fox beat Q4 expectations with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.47 consensus and revenue of $5.18 billion versus $5.02 billion, while the stock traded down about 0.6% to $57.39 on heavy volume.
• Analysts’ consensus is a "Hold" with an average price target of $71.80; the company has a $24.41 billion market cap and recently declared a $0.28 dividend payable March 25 (ex-dividend March 4).

Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report) CEO Lachlan Murdoch sold 247,257 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.69, for a total transaction of $14,264,256.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 175,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,125,979.56. The trade was a 58.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

FOX Stock Down 0.6%

FOXA stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $57.39. 9,569,095 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,978,365. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 0.55. Fox Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.42 and a 1 year high of $76.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.45.

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

FOX Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of FOX

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in FOX in the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,467,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in FOX by 72.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,821,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,948,000 after purchasing an additional 762,645 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 624.5% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 281,126 shares of the company's stock worth $15,753,000 after buying an additional 242,321 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of FOX by 150.9% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 377,731 shares of the company's stock worth $27,601,000 after buying an additional 227,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 415.7% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 230,570 shares of the company's stock worth $12,921,000 after buying an additional 185,859 shares during the period. 52.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FOXA. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of FOX from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of FOX from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of FOX from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of FOX from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of FOX from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.80.

About FOX

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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