Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 670 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its position in TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in TEGNA were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in TEGNA by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,071,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,935,000 after purchasing an additional 325,881 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of TEGNA by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,024,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,862,000 after buying an additional 1,827,471 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in TEGNA by 272.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 29,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 21,853 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in TEGNA by 0.8% during the second 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 boosted its holdings in TEGNA by 48.2% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

TEGNA Trading Down 0.3 %

TEGNA stock opened at $18.29 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.88. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.52. TEGNA Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.35 and a 52-week high of $19.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts predict that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given 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 2.73%. TEGNA’s payout ratio is 17.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,718.80. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

TEGNA Company Profile

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.