Guggenheim Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST)

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on NXST. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital cut shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nexstar Media Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.29.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ NXST opened at $156.39 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $161.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.01. Nexstar Media Group has a one year low of $147.25 and a one year high of $191.86. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.45.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nexstar Media Group

In other news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 52,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $8,312,507.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 674,694 shares in the company, valued at $106,203,582.54. This trade represents a 7.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.93, for a total transaction of $119,947.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,115,511.75. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 146,448 shares of company stock valued at $23,828,076. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 9.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 128.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $249,000. 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.