Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA)

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 16,602 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 900% compared to the average daily volume of 1,660 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FOXA. LSV Asset Management raised its position in FOX by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,293,153 shares of the company's stock worth $246,058,000 after buying an additional 686,762 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in FOX by 67.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,640,787 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,923 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in FOX by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,391,117 shares of the company's stock worth $100,618,000 after purchasing an additional 51,942 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in FOX by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 2,414,239 shares of the company's stock worth $75,324,000 after purchasing an additional 688,193 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in FOX by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,325,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,996,000 after buying an additional 42,143 shares during the last quarter. 52.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FOX Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FOXA traded up $0.36 on Monday, hitting $31.57. 2,564,734 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,335,032. The company has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.41. FOX has a 52 week low of $28.28 and a 52 week high of $35.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.24. FOX had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that FOX will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

FOX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. FOX's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on FOXA shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on FOX from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded FOX from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded FOX from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of FOX in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of FOX from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FOX has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.40.

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.