Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Insider Sells $1,196,612.80 in Stock

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) insider Gary Weitman sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.80, for a total value of $1,196,612.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,596.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NXST stock opened at $163.84 on Thursday. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.30 and a fifty-two week high of $187.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.88.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $3.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.48 by ($0.94). The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 18.65% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 25.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $1.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.19%.

Institutional Trading of Nexstar Media Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NXST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 3.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,370,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,689,000 after purchasing an additional 127,783 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,326,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,189,000 after acquiring an additional 62,331 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the first quarter worth $92,323,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 392.6% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 450,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,593,000 after purchasing an additional 358,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 418,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NXST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $207.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $221.00 to $209.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nexstar Media Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.67.

Nexstar Media Group Company Profile

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.