Analysts Set TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Price Target at $19.75

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.75.

TGNA has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of TEGNA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TEGNA in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of TEGNA by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,008,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,944,000 after purchasing an additional 82,140 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in TEGNA by 6,587.9% during the 3rd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 4,140,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,170,000 after buying an additional 4,078,275 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in TEGNA by 5,517.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,242,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,340,000 after buying an additional 3,184,505 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of TEGNA by 3.1% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,410,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,400,000 after acquiring an additional 72,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in shares of TEGNA by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,399,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,050,000 after purchasing an additional 30,229 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

TEGNA Price Performance

Shares of TEGNA stock opened at $18.96 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $19.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.38. TEGNA has a twelve month low of $14.87 and a twelve month high of $21.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.13.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $650.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $658.28 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 11.97%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.58%.

TEGNA Company Profile

TEGNA Inc is a leading U.S. broadcast and digital media company that was formed as a spin-off from Gannett Co, Inc in June 2015. The company’s primary operations include the ownership and operation of local television stations, digital publishing platforms and marketing solutions designed to serve both national advertisers and local businesses. Through its portfolio of media assets, TEGNA delivers news, information and entertainment across multiple platforms, including over-the-air broadcasts, cable and satellite distribution, streaming services and proprietary websites and mobile apps.

TEGNA owns and operates approximately 60 television stations in 51 markets, reaching nearly 40 percent of U.S.