Brokerages Set Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Price Target at $205.71

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $205.71.

NXST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

NXST opened at $171.79 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.05. Nexstar Media Group has a twelve month low of $141.66 and a twelve month high of $191.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 29.21%. The business’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group will post 21.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nexstar Media Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Blake Russell sold 424 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.53, for a total value of $74,424.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,895 shares in the company, valued at $3,843,229.35. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Biard sold 2,182 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total transaction of $378,773.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,252,972.62. This represents a 23.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,242 shares of company stock valued at $4,352,688 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nexstar Media Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. now owns 20,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Nexstar Media Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 8,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.