Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Position in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. $NXST

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) by 19.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,426 shares of the company’s stock after selling 354 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Nexstar Media Group were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 830.3% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 307 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 62.3% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 2,126.3% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 186.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 453 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 68.6% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 536 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, insider Dana Zimmer sold 916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total transaction of $159,008.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,417.75. This represents a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew Alford sold 779 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total value of $135,226.61. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,438,713.92. The trade was a 8.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,021 shares of company stock valued at $2,885,352 in the last 90 days. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of Nexstar Media Group stock opened at $206.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $182.86 and a 200 day moving average of $169.76. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.66 and a 12 month high of $212.43. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.72, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.95 by $0.11. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 28.40% and a net margin of 11.90%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 21.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NXST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $206.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Barrington Research upped their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Nexstar Media Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

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.