Verity Asset Management Inc. Invests $250,000 in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST)

Verity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202,453 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nexstar Media Group by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 547,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,567,000 after buying an additional 83,829 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 110,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,222,000 after buying an additional 31,700 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter worth approximately $3,747,000. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,758,000. 95.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NXST shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, 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 $153.89 on Wednesday. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.25 and a 52 week high of $191.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $160.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.89. 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 $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The business’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be issued a $1.86 dividend. This is an increase from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is 39.10%.

Insider Activity at Nexstar Media Group

In other Nexstar Media Group news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 37,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.14, for a total value of $5,929,183.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,045,497.16. This trade represents a 5.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.23, for a total value of $52,215.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,610 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,360.30. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.