Navellier & Associates Inc. Acquires 727 Shares of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST)

Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,063 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Nexstar Media Group were worth $3,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NXST. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 27,180.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,206,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,453 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel boosted its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 40.4% during the third quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 110,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,222,000 after buying an additional 31,700 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the third quarter worth about $3,747,000. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nexstar Media Group during the third quarter worth about $3,758,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Nexstar Media Group by 136.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,019,000 after buying an additional 17,535 shares during the period. 95.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Nexstar Media Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital cut Nexstar Media Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Nexstar Media Group in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nexstar Media Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.29.

Nexstar Media Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NXST opened at $149.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $155.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.69. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.25 and a 52 week high of $191.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.45.

Nexstar Media Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This is a boost from Nexstar Media Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.69. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Nexstar Media Group’s dividend payout ratio is 43.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lisbeth Mcnabb sold 875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total value of $150,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,344. This trade represents a 13.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Perry A. Sook sold 52,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $8,312,507.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 674,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,203,582.54. The trade was a 7.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,824 shares of company stock valued at $21,093,408 over the last three months. 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.