TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The firm had revenue of $714.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. TEGNA’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis.

TEGNA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGNA opened at $15.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.50. TEGNA has a fifty-two week low of $13.18 and a fifty-two week high of $17.37.

TEGNA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is an increase from TEGNA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on TGNA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of TEGNA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In other news, CEO David T. Lougee sold 43,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.70, for a total value of $643,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 725,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,667,069.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.