Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Stock

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $249.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 31.57% from the stock’s previous close.

NXST has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.67.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Nexstar Media Group stock opened at $190.02 on Friday. Nexstar Media Group has a 52-week low of $153.17 and a 52-week high of $254.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.09, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.08 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 33.40%. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 32.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Dana Zimmer sold 4,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.46, for a total transaction of $751,339.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,928.32. The trade was a 69.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bernadette S. Aulestia sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.80, for a total transaction of $56,040.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,383 shares in the company, valued at $818,744.40. This trade represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,596 shares of company stock worth $1,733,169 in the last 90 days. 7.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new position in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter worth $37,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 130.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the second quarter valued at $63,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 35.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in Nexstar Media Group during the second quarter worth about $67,000. 95.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Nexstar Media Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting Nexstar Media Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target to $250 from $249 and reaffirmed its Overweight rating. The new target implies about 31.6% upside from the cited $190.02 share price. Wells Fargo rating information
• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue reached a record $2.13 billion, up 78% year over year and above the $2.07 billion analyst estimate. Nexstar said political advertising revenue reached a record $1.1 billion for 2026, 31% higher than in the 2022 midterm cycle, providing a major boost to results. Nexstar Q3 revenue and political advertising
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $7.92 per share, below the $8.08 consensus estimate. The earnings miss tempers the otherwise strong revenue growth. Nexstar Q3 earnings results

Nexstar Media Group Company Profile

Nexstar Media Group, Inc is a television broadcasting and digital media company headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company operates local television stations across the United States, with stations affiliated with major networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The CW and MyNetworkTV. Its local media operations provide news, weather, sports, entertainment and other programming to audiences in markets nationwide.

Nexstar also owns and operates national media properties, including NewsNation, a cable and streaming news network, and The Hill, a political news and information platform.