TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $23.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $21.00.

Several other research firms also recently commented on TGNA. Benchmark increased their price objective on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

TEGNA Stock Up 3.6 %

TGNA stock opened at $18.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 0.52. TEGNA has a fifty-two week low of $12.35 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.72 and a 200-day moving average of $15.59.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The business had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. TEGNA’s payout ratio is 17.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,718.80. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of TEGNA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in TEGNA by 1.8% during the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 42,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in TEGNA by 20.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in TEGNA by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in TEGNA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 173,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after buying an additional 1,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in TEGNA by 48.2% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc, a media company, provides broadcast advertising and marketing products and services for businesses. The company operates 47 television stations in 39 markets of the United States that produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment. It offers local and national non-political advertising; political advertising; production of programming from third parties; production of advertising materials; and digital marketing services, as well as advertising services on the stations' Websites, tablets, and mobile products.