Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.27 Per Share

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) declared a Semi-Annual dividend on Tuesday, August 6th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share on Wednesday, September 25th. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This is a positive change from FOX’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.26.

FOX has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.5% annually over the last three years. FOX has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect FOX to earn $3.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

FOX Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:FOXA traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 422,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,039,971. FOX has a 1 year low of $28.28 and a 1 year high of $39.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.33 and a 200-day moving average of $32.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. FOX had a net margin of 11.19% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that FOX will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of FOX in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of FOX from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of FOX from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of FOX from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded FOX from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.86.

Insider Activity at FOX

In related news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 13,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.89, for a total value of $407,006.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,408,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,519,747.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 13,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.89, for a total value of $407,006.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,408,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,519,747.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Steven Tomsic sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $1,027,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 110,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,788,059.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 21.77% of the stock is currently 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 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.