Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Raises Dividend to $1.86 Per Share

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of 1.86 per share on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. This is a positive change from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69.

Nexstar Media Group has increased its dividend by an average of 34.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Nexstar Media Group has a dividend payout ratio of 28.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Nexstar Media Group to earn $13.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Down 0.2 %

NXST opened at $151.40 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.98 and a 200 day moving average of $165.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. Nexstar Media Group has a 12 month low of $147.25 and a 12 month high of $191.86. The company has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.45.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 21.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NXST. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 52,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $8,312,507.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,203,582.54. This trade represents a 7.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.23, for a total value of $52,215.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,360.30. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,209 shares of company stock valued at $21,499,239 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Nexstar Media Group Company Profile

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.