Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.69

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.69 per share on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Nexstar Media Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 34.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group has a payout ratio of 39.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Nexstar Media Group to earn $18.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.2%.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Nexstar Media Group stock traded down $2.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $158.92. 250,869 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 211,786. Nexstar Media Group has a 52-week low of $132.30 and a 52-week high of $187.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.96.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.42 by ($1.10). Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.04 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Nexstar Media Group will post 26.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nexstar Media Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $5,038,724.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares in the company, valued at $101,032,784.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Nexstar Media Group news, Director Lisbeth Mcnabb sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $379,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,099,955. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $5,038,724.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,508 shares of company stock worth $7,487,950 over the last quarter. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.