Nexstar Media Group’s (NXST) Buy Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.29.

Nexstar Media Group Price Performance

Shares of NXST traded up $2.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $155.69. 26,495 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,842. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. Nexstar Media Group has a 52-week low of $147.25 and a 52-week high of $191.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $162.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.18. The company has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.45.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brett Jenkins sold 4,331 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.64, for a total transaction of $739,041.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 25,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,358,145.60. This represents a 14.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 12,239 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.28, for a total transaction of $2,328,836.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,380,774.32. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NXST. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 9.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after buying an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 18.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 128.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Nexstar Media Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $249,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% of the company’s stock.

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.