Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Director Sells $341,640.00 in Stock

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Director Dennis J. Fitzsimons sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total transaction of $341,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,027 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,452.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

NXST traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $172.64. 34,911 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 378,108. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $168.34 and its 200 day moving average is $155.83. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.42 by ($1.10). The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 14.06%. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.04 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 26.73 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,397,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,584,000 after purchasing an additional 27,714 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,384,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,021,000 after purchasing an additional 72,462 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,038,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,393,000 after purchasing an additional 5,325 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,014,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,474,000 after purchasing an additional 28,975 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 716,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,026,000 after purchasing an additional 60,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NXST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Friday, December 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $158.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.83.

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.