Brokerages Set Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Target Price at $256.50

Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $256.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $253.00 to $249.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bernadette Aulestia sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.80, for a total value of $56,040.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $818,744.40. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Dana Zimmer sold 4,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.46, for a total value of $751,339.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,928.32. The trade was a 69.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,773 shares of company stock valued at $1,265,426 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nexstar Media Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NXST. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 773,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,114,000 after acquiring an additional 13,084 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 643,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,427,000 after purchasing an additional 11,477 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 488,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,381,000 after purchasing an additional 7,661 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 358,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,847,000 after purchasing an additional 79,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the 4th quarter worth about $41,474,000. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NXST stock opened at $162.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $182.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $191.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.09. Nexstar Media Group has a 12 month low of $154.47 and a 12 month high of $254.30. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 0.90.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $3.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.98 by ($2.37). The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 24.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 62.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 32.88 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 142.80%.

About Nexstar Media Group

Nexstar Media Group, Inc is a diversified American media company that owns and operates local television stations and digital media platforms across the United States. Its stations provide locally produced news, weather, sports and community programming, while also carrying programming from major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and The CW, depending on the market.

The company also operates NewsNation, a national cable news and information network, and develops digital content and advertising solutions through its online properties.