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

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

Nexstar Media Group has raised its dividend by an average of 34.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Nexstar Media Group has a payout ratio of 39.6% indicating that 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 Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NXST traded down $2.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $158.92. The stock had a trading volume of 250,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,786. Nexstar Media Group has a twelve month low of $132.30 and a twelve month high of $187.32. 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 firm has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.96.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on NXST. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on 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. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Nexstar Media Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nexstar Media Group

In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $101,032,784.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 31,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $5,038,724.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 636,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,032,784.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 $2,099,955. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,508 shares of company stock valued at $7,487,950 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

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.