Atria Investments Inc Cuts Stake in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST)

Atria Investments Inc reduced its position in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,234 shares of the company’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Nexstar Media Group were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 88.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 3.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,370,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,689,000 after purchasing an additional 127,783 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 16.5% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 5,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $885,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 41.4% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 8,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $410,000. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew Alford sold 3,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.82, for a total value of $532,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,539,412.86. This trade represents a 25.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 12,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.28, for a total transaction of $2,328,836.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,380,774.32. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,437 shares of company stock valued at $8,429,561 in the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NXST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $221.00 to $209.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $207.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Loop Capital cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $198.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.50.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NXST opened at $162.18 on Tuesday. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.38 and a 52 week high of $191.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $168.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.16. The stock has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.48.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during 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%. Nexstar Media Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.69 dividend. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is 39.10%.

Nexstar Media Group 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.