Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 27,160 Shares of Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOX)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Fox Co. (NASDAQ:FOX) by 61.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,492 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,160 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in FOX were worth $3,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in FOX by 3.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 540,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,982,000 after acquiring an additional 18,802 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of FOX by 73.2% in the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 61,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,566,000 after purchasing an additional 25,846 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FOX during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,295,000. CMC Financial Group acquired a new stake in FOX during the fourth quarter worth approximately $243,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in FOX by 1,622.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 56,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,596,000 after purchasing an additional 53,456 shares in the last quarter. 26.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at FOX

In other news, Chairman Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 58,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,200,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,849,832.54. The trade was a 4.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Adam G. Ciongoli sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 23.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Moffett Nathanson cut FOX from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st.

FOX Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:FOX opened at $45.65 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.77. Fox Co. has a 12 month low of $27.63 and a 12 month high of $55.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

FOX (NASDAQ:FOX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.35. FOX had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 14.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fox Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FOX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. FOX’s dividend payout ratio is 11.56%.

FOX Company Profile

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.