Insider Selling: TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) CEO Sells $493,507.52 in Stock

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) CEO David T. Lougee sold 32,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.04, for a total transaction of $493,507.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 692,838 shares in the company, valued at $10,420,283.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

TEGNA Price Performance

NYSE:TGNA opened at $14.43 on Thursday. TEGNA Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.18 and a 52 week high of $17.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $714.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.86 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 11.86%. TEGNA’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts expect that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

TEGNA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This is a positive change from TEGNA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.08%.

Institutional Trading of TEGNA

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of TEGNA by 142.1% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 983 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in TEGNA by 389.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in TEGNA during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of TEGNA by 94.3% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of TEGNA in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TGNA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

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.