TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on TGNA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

TEGNA Stock Performance

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

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

Insider Activity at TEGNA

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in TEGNA by 2,898.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,806,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,521,000 after buying an additional 10,445,739 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TEGNA by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,798,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471,691 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in TEGNA by 395.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,974,000 after purchasing an additional 743,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in TEGNA by 757.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 662,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,453,000 after purchasing an additional 585,156 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

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.