Nexstar Media Group’s (NXST) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 43.34% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on NXST. Wells Fargo & Company raised Nexstar Media Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $221.00 in a report on Monday, May 13th. Loop Capital raised Nexstar Media Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Nexstar Media Group from $216.00 to $213.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.00.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NXST opened at $156.97 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $161.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.48. Nexstar Media Group has a 52-week low of $132.30 and a 52-week high of $187.32.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.88. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Nexstar Media Group will post 27.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Nexstar Media Group

In other news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $52,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,462 shares in the company, valued at $873,920. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Nexstar Media Group news, CFO Lee Ann Gliha sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $52,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,462 shares in the company, valued at $873,920. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis J. Fitzsimons sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total value of $341,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,054,452.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,826 shares of company stock worth $1,422,237 over the last 90 days. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter valued at $524,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter valued at $476,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 21.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 135,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,368,000 after purchasing an additional 23,979 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter valued at $1,811,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Nexstar Media Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 28,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,930 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.30% 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.