TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Short Interest Down 37.5% in December

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,140,000 shares, a decrease of 37.5% from the December 15th total of 9,820,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

TEGNA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TGNA opened at $17.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. TEGNA has a 1-year low of $12.35 and a 1-year high of $19.62. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.37 and its 200-day moving average is $16.15.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio is 17.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGNA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,718.80. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGNA. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in TEGNA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 173,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after buying an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of TEGNA by 48.2% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of TEGNA by 513.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 181,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,526,000 after purchasing an additional 151,656 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of TEGNA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,309,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,714,000 after purchasing an additional 141,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 15.5% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 262,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,658,000 after purchasing an additional 35,162 shares in the last quarter. 92.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.