Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.69

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.69 per share on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Nexstar Media Group has increased its dividend by an average of 34.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group has a payout ratio of 39.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Nexstar Media Group to earn $18.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.2%.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NXST opened at $158.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.11. Nexstar Media Group has a 12 month low of $132.30 and a 12 month high of $187.32.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.42 by ($1.10). The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business’s revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Nexstar Media Group will post 26.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $5,038,724.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $5,038,724.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,032,784.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lisbeth Mcnabb sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $379,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,099,955. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,508 shares of company stock valued at $7,487,950. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NXST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.83.

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.