Guggenheim Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA)

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.54% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark raised their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.75.

TEGNA Price Performance

TEGNA stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $18.25. 110,211 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,070,917. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. TEGNA has a 12-month low of $12.35 and a 12-month high of $19.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.37. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 0.52.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The firm had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in TEGNA by 2,898.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,806,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,521,000 after purchasing an additional 10,445,739 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of TEGNA by 395.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,974,000 after acquiring an additional 743,052 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of TEGNA by 757.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 662,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,453,000 after acquiring an additional 585,156 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of TEGNA by 132.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 916,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,780,000 after acquiring an additional 523,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new stake in TEGNA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,539,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

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.