Arizona State Retirement System Decreases Holdings in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,808 shares of the company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Nexstar Media Group were worth $1,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 190,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,322,000 after buying an additional 5,389 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 502,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,063,000 after buying an additional 66,645 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 238,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,218,000 after buying an additional 145,617 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 519.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 51,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,406,000 after buying an additional 43,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 72.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 12,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after buying an additional 5,121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $5,038,724.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 636,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Dennis J. Fitzsimons sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total value of $341,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,054,452.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $5,038,724.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,032,784.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,508 shares of company stock worth $7,487,950 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NXST shares. TheStreet raised Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.83.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Down 2.1 %

NXST stock opened at $159.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.63. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.30 and a 52 week high of $187.32.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.42 by ($1.10). The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 26.73 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.69 per share. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. This is an increase from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.20%.

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.