TEGNA Inc. (TGNA) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 6th

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.125 per share on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th.

TEGNA has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.2% annually over the last three years. TEGNA has a payout ratio of 26.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect TEGNA to earn $1.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

TEGNA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGNA opened at $18.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.26. TEGNA has a 12 month low of $12.35 and a 12 month high of $19.62.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts expect that TEGNA will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at TEGNA

In other news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,535,718.80. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TGNA. Benchmark lifted their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of TEGNA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

About TEGNA

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.