Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $198.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $198.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $207.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ NXST opened at $170.59 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.48. Nexstar Media Group has a 52-week low of $141.38 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.

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

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director D Geoffrey Armstrong sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.38, for a total transaction of $332,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,255. The trade was a 21.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,000. The trade was a 11.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,423 shares of company stock worth $7,916,739 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nexstar Media Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,326,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,189,000 after purchasing an additional 62,331 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Nexstar Media Group by 0.7% during 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 buying an additional 7,117 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 83,829 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Nexstar Media Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 418,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,145 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 4.7% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 201,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,524,000 after acquiring an additional 9,084 shares during the last quarter. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nexstar Media Group

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.