Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $208.43.

A number of brokerages recently commented on NXST. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Monday. Benchmark raised their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Activity at Nexstar Media Group

In other Nexstar Media Group news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.23, for a total transaction of $52,215.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,610 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,360.30. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 35,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.13, for a total value of $5,707,786.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 674,694 shares in the company, valued at $109,388,138.22. This trade represents a 4.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,455 shares of company stock worth $26,158,403 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nexstar Media Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NXST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,331,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,314,000 after buying an additional 4,704 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,650,000 after buying an additional 1,202,453 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,102,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,103,000 after buying an additional 18,675 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 16,009.5% during the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 773,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,227,000 after buying an additional 768,934 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 463,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,162,000 after buying an additional 84,367 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Down 4.5 %

Nexstar Media Group stock opened at $169.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. Nexstar Media Group has a 12 month low of $146.04 and a 12 month high of $191.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $163.76.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $7.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.22 by ($1.66). The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 26.03%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nexstar Media Group will post 21.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. This is a positive change from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is currently 34.56%.

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.