Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 40,388 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its position in TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA - Free Report) by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 109,246 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,388 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned about 0.07% of TEGNA worth $1,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in TEGNA by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,798,623 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471,691 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in TEGNA by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,309,749 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,714,000 after acquiring an additional 141,638 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,827,471 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in TEGNA by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,071,403 shares of the company's stock worth $14,935,000 after buying an additional 325,881 shares during the last quarter. 92.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TGNA. Benchmark raised their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised TEGNA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th.

TEGNA Stock Performance

Shares of TEGNA stock traded up $0.25 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 228,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,080. TEGNA Inc. has a one year low of $12.35 and a one year high of $19.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 0.49. The business's fifty day moving average price is $16.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The business had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $795.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. TEGNA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.67%.

Insider Activity

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,617 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,718.80. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

TEGNA Company 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.