Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Given “Buy” Rating at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NXST. Loop Capital downgraded Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.29.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ NXST opened at $154.70 on Wednesday. Nexstar Media Group has a 52 week low of $147.25 and a 52 week high of $191.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $162.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.45.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.24). Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.10%.

Insider Transactions at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 12,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.28, for a total transaction of $2,328,836.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,380,774.32. This trade represents a 1.78 % 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. Also, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.93, for a total transaction of $119,947.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,115,511.75. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,453 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,083,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,117 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 18.1% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 547,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,567,000 after purchasing an additional 83,829 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 72.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 199,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,769,000 after buying an additional 83,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 189,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,362,000 after buying an additional 10,938 shares during the period. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nexstar Media Group Company Profile

Nexstar Media Group, Inc operates as a diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports and entertainment content across the television and digital platforms in the United States. It owns, operates, programs, or provides sales and other services to various markets; and offers television programming services.