Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) to Issue $0.27 Semi-annual Dividend

Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOXA) announced a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a dividend yield of 1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th.

FOX has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years. FOX has a dividend payout ratio of 14.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect FOX to earn $3.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.54 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

FOX Stock Performance

FOXA traded down $0.12 on Wednesday, reaching $54.52. 2,820,269 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,472,732. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.76. FOX has a fifty-two week low of $28.28 and a fifty-two week high of $55.56.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOXA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.34. FOX had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. FOX’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FOX will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FOXA shares. Moffett Nathanson downgraded shares of FOX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $51.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on FOX from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on FOX from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on FOX from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on FOX from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.19.

Insider Transactions at FOX

In other FOX news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 186,871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.22, for a total value of $8,637,177.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 21.77% of the company’s stock.

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.