Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stock Holdings in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. $NXST

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Free Report) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 148,517 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 12,389 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.49% of Nexstar Media Group worth $26,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NXST. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 611.5% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 289,668 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,914,000 after acquiring an additional 248,957 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 32.1% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 804,095 shares of the company's stock worth $144,110,000 after purchasing an additional 195,574 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 58.3% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 352,165 shares of the company's stock worth $63,115,000 after purchasing an additional 129,647 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 13.6% in the first quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 879,253 shares of the company's stock worth $157,580,000 after purchasing an additional 105,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the first quarter worth approximately $17,574,000. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NXST. Benchmark increased their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Nexstar Media Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Nexstar Media Group from $206.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.00.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:NXST traded up $6.18 on Thursday, hitting $203.54. 166,331 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 414,971. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.66 and a 52 week high of $223.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.65. The company has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.04.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.95 by $0.11. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 28.40% and a net margin of 11.90%.The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 21.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Nexstar Media Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.63%.

Insider Activity at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, insider Dana Zimmer sold 889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.25, for a total transaction of $146,907.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,024,715.25. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Alford sold 757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.25, for a total value of $125,094.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,528 shares in the company, valued at $1,739,752. This trade represents a 6.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,209 shares of company stock valued at $860,787 over the last three months. 6.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nexstar Media Group 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.