TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) to Issue Dividend Increase - $0.13 Per Share

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.125 per share on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This is an increase from TEGNA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11.

TEGNA has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. TEGNA has a dividend payout ratio of 20.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect TEGNA to earn $2.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

TEGNA Trading Up 2.4 %

TGNA stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $15.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,467,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,139,389. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.50. TEGNA has a 1 year low of $13.18 and a 1 year high of $17.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.83.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $714.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.86 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that TEGNA will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on TGNA. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of TEGNA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David T. Lougee sold 43,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.70, for a total value of $643,125.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,667,069.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

TEGNA Company Profile

TEGNA Inc, a media company, provides broadcast advertising and marketing products and services for businesses. The company operates 47 television stations in 39 markets of the United States that produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment. It offers local and national non-political advertising; political advertising; production of programming from third parties; production of advertising materials; and digital marketing services, as well as advertising services on the stations' Websites, tablets, and mobile products.