Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) Declares Dividend Increase - $1.86 Per Share

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of 1.86 per share on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.74%. This is an increase from Nexstar Media Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.69.

Nexstar Media Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 34.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group has a dividend payout ratio of 25.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Nexstar Media Group to earn $17.69 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 38.2%.

Nexstar Media Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Nexstar Media Group stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $156.83. The stock had a trading volume of 300,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,579. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $161.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.63. Nexstar Media Group has a twelve month low of $147.25 and a twelve month high of $191.86.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. Nexstar Media Group's revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group will post 24.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brett Jenkins sold 4,331 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.64, for a total value of $739,041.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 25,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,358,145.60. This represents a 14.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.93, for a total value of $119,947.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,115,511.75. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,448 shares of company stock worth $23,828,076 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NXST. Loop Capital downgraded Nexstar Media Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.29.

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.