Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from seven ratings firms, with an average target price of $225.00.
• Recent institutional investments have significantly increased the company's stock ownership, with hedge funds owning 95.30% of Nexstar's shares.
• Nexstar reported a quarterly EPS of $3.06, outperforming estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.86 per share.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $225.00.

A number of brokerages recently commented on NXST. 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 research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group to a "hold" 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 research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Nexstar Media Group from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nexstar Media Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NXST. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 71,715.8% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 394,987 shares of the company's stock worth $70,790,000 after buying an additional 394,437 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC acquired a new position in Nexstar Media Group in the 1st quarter worth about $60,064,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 118.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 543,612 shares of the company's stock worth $93,795,000 after buying an additional 294,308 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,461,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 611.5% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 289,668 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,914,000 after purchasing an additional 248,957 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company's stock.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

NASDAQ NXST opened at $197.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $199.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.86. Nexstar Media Group has a 1 year low of $141.66 and a 1 year high of $223.36.

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

Nexstar Media Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Nexstar Media Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.63%.

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.

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