Short Interest in TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Decreases By 37.5%

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,140,000 shares, a decline of 37.5% from the December 15th total of 9,820,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TGNA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TEGNA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

TEGNA Price Performance

TGNA stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.27. The company had a trading volume of 415,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,105,219. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.19. TEGNA has a fifty-two week low of $12.35 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.52. 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 (NYSE:TGNA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that TEGNA will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. TEGNA's dividend payout ratio is 17.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TGNA. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in TEGNA by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of TEGNA by 26.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 891,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,068,000 after purchasing an additional 184,845 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TEGNA in the third quarter valued at approximately $528,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 7.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,994 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sculati Wealth Management LLC raised its position in TEGNA by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,435 shares of the company's stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.