StockNews.com Downgrades TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) to Hold

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Benchmark boosted their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th.

TEGNA Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:TGNA opened at $18.71 on Friday. TEGNA has a 1 year low of $12.35 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.49.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In related news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.88, for a total value of $347,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 179,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,493,083.96. This represents a 12.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TEGNA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGNA. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of TEGNA by 2,898.4% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,806,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,521,000 after acquiring an additional 10,445,739 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,024,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,862,000 after buying an additional 1,827,471 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,471,691 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in TEGNA by 395.9% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,974,000 after buying an additional 743,052 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of TEGNA by 757.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 662,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,453,000 after acquiring an additional 585,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

About TEGNA

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.