TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $17.50, but opened at $18.59. TEGNA shares last traded at $18.26, with a volume of 356,410 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TGNA shares. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

TEGNA Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.57.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.67%.

Insider Transactions at TEGNA

In other news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,718.80. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in TEGNA by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 891,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,068,000 after purchasing an additional 184,845 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in TEGNA by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,309,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,714,000 after acquiring an additional 141,638 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in shares of TEGNA by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 725,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,453,000 after purchasing an additional 168,667 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of TEGNA during the third quarter worth about $626,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in TEGNA by 132.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 916,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,780,000 after buying an additional 523,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc, a media company, provides broadcast advertising and marketing products and services for businesses. The company operates 47 television stations in 39 markets of the United States that produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment. It offers local and national non-political advertising; political advertising; production of programming from third parties; production of advertising materials; and digital marketing services, as well as advertising services on the stations' Websites, tablets, and mobile products.