Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Receives Outperform Rating from Barrington Research

Barrington Research reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on NXST. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Nexstar Media Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:NXST opened at $207.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $183.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.02. 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 has a 12-month low of $141.66 and a 12-month high of $223.36. The firm has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.54 EPS. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 21.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Ann Gliha sold 1,437 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total transaction of $249,448.83. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,896,123.57. The trade was a 11.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sean Compton sold 877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total transaction of $152,238.43. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,219 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,686.21. The trade was a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,021 shares of company stock worth $2,885,352 in the last 90 days. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NXST. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 375.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 152 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Nexstar Media Group by 617.2% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 70.6% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 273 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the second quarter valued at about $54,000. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.