Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Receives $204.29 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $204.29.

NXST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $198.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NXST stock opened at $157.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.45. Nexstar Media Group has a one year low of $147.25 and a one year high of $191.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $167.86 and its 200 day moving average is $167.63.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.24). Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.10%.

Insider Transactions at Nexstar Media Group

In other news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 330 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.23, for a total transaction of $52,215.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,610 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,360.30. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 12,239 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.28, for a total value of $2,328,836.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares in the company, valued at $128,380,774.32. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076 in the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NXST. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 3,700.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. 95.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.