Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.86 (NASDAQ:NXST)

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of 1.86 per share on Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th.

Nexstar Media Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 34.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group has a dividend payout ratio of 29.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Nexstar Media Group to earn $13.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NXST traded up $1.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $155.77. The company had a trading volume of 1,001,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,046. Nexstar Media Group has a twelve month low of $141.66 and a twelve month high of $191.86. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $162.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.06.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $7.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.22 by ($1.66). Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Nexstar Media Group will post 21.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.51, for a total value of $339,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,312.25. The trade was a 28.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 32,096 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.67, for a total value of $5,477,824.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 806,019 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $137,563,262.73. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,105 shares of company stock worth $6,722,463 in the last three months. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NXST shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Nexstar Media Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.