Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Rating Lowered to Hold at Loop Capital

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) was downgraded by equities researchers at Loop Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $190.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $200.00. Loop Capital’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.80% from the company’s previous close.

NXST has been the subject of several other research reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday. Benchmark decreased their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $221.00 to $209.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.50.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Up 2.9 %

Nexstar Media Group stock opened at $188.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.63 and a 200-day moving average of $166.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. Nexstar Media Group has a one year low of $140.92 and a one year high of $191.86.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 18.65%. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 25.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nexstar Media Group news, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.44, for a total transaction of $41,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,270,299. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 984 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.63, for a total value of $155,107.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,277,906.41. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 250 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.44, for a total transaction of $41,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,270,299. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,112 shares of company stock worth $6,887,029 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NXST. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $92,323,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Nexstar Media Group by 3.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,370,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,689,000 after purchasing an additional 127,783 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel Investment Group acquired a new position in Nexstar Media Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $15,144,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Nexstar Media Group by 18.1% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 547,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,567,000 after purchasing an additional 83,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Nexstar Media Group by 72.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 199,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,769,000 after purchasing an additional 83,637 shares in the last quarter. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.