Bank of Nova Scotia Reduces Stock Position in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA)

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its position in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,538 shares of the company’s stock after selling 835 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in FOX were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FOX during the fourth quarter worth about $132,161,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of FOX in the 4th quarter valued at $67,471,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of FOX by 240.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,884,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,570,000 after buying an additional 1,330,908 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of FOX by 308.5% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,218,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,174,000 after buying an additional 919,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of FOX by 3,077.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 885,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,016,000 after buying an additional 857,609 shares during the period. 52.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FOX Stock Performance

FOX stock opened at $48.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The company has a market cap of $22.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.51. Fox Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $58.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.93.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.34. FOX had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fox Co. will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

FOX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a yield of 1%. FOX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FOXA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Moffett Nathanson cut FOX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of FOX from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of FOX from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on FOX from $50.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered FOX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FOX has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of FOX stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.17, for a total transaction of $3,083,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,200,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,849,832.54. This trade represents a 4.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $69,178.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,618,324.61. The trade was a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 21.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.