Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 3,014 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,155 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,014 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in TEGNA were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in TEGNA during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of TEGNA by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of TEGNA during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in TEGNA by 455.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in TEGNA by 20.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TGNA has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark raised their price objective on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of TEGNA in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.75.

TEGNA Price Performance

TGNA opened at $18.22 on Friday. TEGNA Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.35 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.54. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

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

TEGNA 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.