Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Loop Capital raised Nexstar Media Group to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nexstar Media Group presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $206.00.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NXST opened at $155.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s fifty day moving average is $161.81 and its 200 day moving average is $163.69. Nexstar Media Group has a 52 week low of $132.30 and a 52 week high of $187.32.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.88. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 27.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $1.69 dividend. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is currently 57.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $52,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $873,920. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Gary Weitman sold 522 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.08, for a total value of $77,819.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,071.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 326 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $52,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $873,920. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,826 shares of company stock worth $1,422,237 over the last three months. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,370,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,689,000 after purchasing an additional 127,783 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,384,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,021,000 after acquiring an additional 72,462 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the first quarter worth $92,323,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 519,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,442,000 after acquiring an additional 16,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 392.6% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 450,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,593,000 after purchasing an additional 358,920 shares during the last quarter. 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.