Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA)

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 16,602 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 900% compared to the average volume of 1,660 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FOXA. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on FOX from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet downgraded FOX from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of FOX from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.40.

FOX Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of FOX stock opened at $31.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.78. FOX has a 52-week low of $28.28 and a 52-week high of $35.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.41. 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) last released 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. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. FOX had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 5.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FOX will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

FOX Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FOX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of FOX in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,391,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in FOX by 67.8% in 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 last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in FOX by 453.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,029,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662,748 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of FOX by 128.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,294,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,068,000 after buying an additional 1,287,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FOX during the 3rd quarter worth $27,780,000. 52.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About FOX

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.