State of Michigan Retirement System Cuts Position in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its stake in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Nexstar Media Group were worth $1,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Nexstar Media Group in the third quarter worth $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Nexstar Media Group during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NXST shares. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.29.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NXST opened at $177.85 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $156.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.04 and a 12 month high of $191.86.

Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $7.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.22 by ($1.66). Nexstar Media Group had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nexstar Media Group, Inc. will post 21.62 EPS for the current year.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a $1.86 dividend. This is an increase from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Thomas Mcmillen sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.51, for a total value of $339,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,312.25. This represents a 28.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Gary Weitman sold 1,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.21, for a total transaction of $219,917.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $704,409.75. This trade represents a 23.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,955 shares of company stock valued at $26,240,628 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.30% 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.