Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOX) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOX - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a drop of 6.0% from the March 15th total of 4,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, TheStreet lowered shares of FOX from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

FOX Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FOX traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.95. 1,172,855 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,332,509. FOX has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $33.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.05.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter. FOX had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS.

FOX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from FOX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. FOX's payout ratio is 30.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in FOX by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,559,426 shares of the company's stock worth $637,056,000 after purchasing an additional 506,637 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in FOX by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,568,712 shares of the company's stock worth $400,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758,998 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in FOX by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,807,351 shares of the company's stock worth $248,976,000 after purchasing an additional 253,490 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in FOX by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 5,883,009 shares of the company's stock worth $169,901,000 after purchasing an additional 274,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in FOX by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,886,758 shares of the company's stock worth $90,227,000 after purchasing an additional 20,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.41% of the company's stock.

FOX Company Profile

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.