Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 184,845 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) by 26.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 891,488 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184,845 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.53% of TEGNA worth $14,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TGNA. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in TEGNA by 29.5% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,024,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827,471 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,798,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,691 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in TEGNA by 395.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,974,000 after purchasing an additional 743,052 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in TEGNA by 132.9% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 916,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,780,000 after purchasing an additional 523,120 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in TEGNA by 18.7% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,441,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,479,000 after buying an additional 384,687 shares during the last quarter. 92.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at TEGNA

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,718.80. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

TEGNA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGNA opened at $17.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. TEGNA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.35 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.05 and a 200-day moving average of $14.96.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 16.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TGNA shares. Benchmark upped their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

TEGNA Company Profile

TEGNA Inc, a media company, provides broadcast advertising and marketing products and services for businesses. The company operates 47 television stations in 39 markets of the United States that produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment. It offers local and national non-political advertising; political advertising; production of programming from third parties; production of advertising materials; and digital marketing services, as well as advertising services on the stations' Websites, tablets, and mobile products.