TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Trading Down 4.8% on Insider Selling

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) was down 4.8% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $15.72 and last traded at $15.74. Approximately 816,247 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 1,983,246 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.53.

Specifically, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.57, for a total transaction of $497,100.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 181,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,013,768.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on TGNA shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on TEGNA from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com started coverage on TEGNA in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

TEGNA Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 3.44, a current ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.67.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.39 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 20.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that TEGNA Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.1138 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from TEGNA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGNA. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in TEGNA by 81.5% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 16.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 40,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in TEGNA by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 81,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its position in TEGNA by 11.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 132,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,057,000 after acquiring an additional 13,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in TEGNA by 5.7% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 122,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 6,586 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.99% 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.