Brokerages Set Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) PT at $204.29

Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $204.29.

Several brokerages have recently commented on NXST. 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, 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.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NXST opened at $157.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Nexstar Media Group has a fifty-two week low of $147.25 and a fifty-two week high of $191.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.96. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 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). 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 company posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.69 dividend. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nexstar Media Group news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 12,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $128,380,774.32. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bernadette S. Aulestia sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.45, for a total value of $82,225.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,900. The trade was a 20.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NXST. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,650,000 after buying an additional 1,202,453 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,083,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,117 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 83,829 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 72.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 199,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,769,000 after buying an additional 83,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 189,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,362,000 after acquiring an additional 10,938 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

Nexstar Media Group Company Profile

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.