TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Short Interest Down 37.5% in December

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,140,000 shares, a decline of 37.5% from the December 15th total of 9,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TGNA. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in TEGNA during the third quarter worth $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in TEGNA by 48.2% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in TEGNA by 455.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in TEGNA by 20.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

TEGNA Stock Performance

Shares of TGNA stock opened at $17.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 0.52. TEGNA has a 52 week low of $12.35 and a 52 week 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $18.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.15.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The company’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts expect that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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.