Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.88, Briefing.com reports. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NXST traded down $5.64 on Friday, reaching $172.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 341,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 338,061. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.50. Nexstar Media Group has a 12-month low of $132.30 and a 12-month high of $187.32.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $1.69 per share. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Nexstar Media Group’s payout ratio is currently 70.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nexstar Media Group

In other news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $5,038,724.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Dennis J. Fitzsimons sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total value of $341,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,054,452.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $5,038,724.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 636,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,508 shares of company stock valued at $7,487,950. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on NXST shares. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.29.

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.