StockNews.com Downgrades TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) to Hold

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also commented on TGNA. 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, November 12th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

TEGNA Price Performance

TGNA opened at $18.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.09. TEGNA has a fifty-two week low of $12.35 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.49.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. TEGNA had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,535,718.80. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TEGNA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in TEGNA by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,798,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,691 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 2,898.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,806,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,521,000 after buying an additional 10,445,739 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in TEGNA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,309,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,714,000 after buying an additional 141,638 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in TEGNA by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,194,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,991,000 after acquiring an additional 276,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in TEGNA by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,024,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827,471 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

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.