Andrew Alford Sells 3,768 Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Stock

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) insider Andrew Alford sold 3,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $685,700.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $983,601.90. The trade was a 41.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ NXST opened at $176.45 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $162.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.47. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.04 and a 12-month high of $191.86.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $7.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.22 by ($1.66). Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 21.62 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. This is an increase from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is presently 34.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NXST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,331,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,314,000 after buying an additional 4,704 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202,453 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,102,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,103,000 after acquiring an additional 18,675 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 16,009.5% during the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 773,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,227,000 after purchasing an additional 768,934 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 463,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,162,000 after buying an additional 84,367 shares during the period. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NXST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.43.

About Nexstar Media Group

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.