Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 585,156 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) by 757.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 662,417 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 585,156 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in TEGNA were worth $10,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of TEGNA by 29.5% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,024,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,862,000 after buying an additional 1,827,471 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TEGNA by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,798,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,691 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in TEGNA by 395.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,974,000 after buying an additional 743,052 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in TEGNA by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 916,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,780,000 after purchasing an additional 523,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 18.7% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,441,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,479,000 after buying an additional 384,687 shares during the last quarter. 92.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TGNA shares. StockNews.com upgraded TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Benchmark raised their target price on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Transactions at TEGNA

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,718.80. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

TEGNA Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of TGNA stock opened at $17.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. TEGNA Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.35 and a 12-month high of $19.62.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 16.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA 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.