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

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Nexstar Media Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 34.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group has a dividend payout ratio of 39.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

NASDAQ:NXST traded down $2.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $158.92. 250,869 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 211,786. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.50. Nexstar Media Group has a twelve month low of $132.30 and a twelve month high of $187.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.98 and a 200 day moving average of $159.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.42 by ($1.10). The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 14.06%. Nexstar Media Group's revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Nexstar Media Group will post 26.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nexstar Media Group news, EVP Michael Strober sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.49, for a total transaction of $167,490.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,219.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Nexstar Media Group news, EVP Michael Strober sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.49, for a total transaction of $167,490.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,219.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis J. Fitzsimons sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total transaction of $341,640.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,054,452.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,508 shares of company stock valued at $7,487,950 in the last 90 days. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nexstar Media Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $193.83.

About Nexstar Media Group

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.