Blake Russell Sells 326 Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Stock

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) EVP Blake Russell sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.25, for a total value of $54,523.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,019 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,017,177.75. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Blake Russell also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 27th, Blake Russell sold 362 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.59, for a total value of $62,839.58.
• On Tuesday, May 20th, Blake Russell sold 424 shares of Nexstar Media Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.53, for a total value of $74,424.72.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

NXST stock traded up $4.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $169.00. 224,880 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,535. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $160.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.14. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.66 and a 12 month high of $191.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.77, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.06.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.11. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 21.62 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Nexstar Media Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the fourth quarter worth about $506,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 16.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 45,051 shares of the company's stock worth $7,448,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,264,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 25,575 shares of the company's stock worth $4,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Nexstar Media Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 403,728 shares of the company's stock worth $63,777,000 after purchasing an additional 19,116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NXST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital raised Nexstar Media Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Nexstar Media Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.71.

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.