TEGNA’s (TGNA) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 price target on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.75.

TEGNA Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TGNA opened at $18.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.52. TEGNA has a 52 week low of $12.35 and a 52 week high of $19.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $806.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that TEGNA will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TGNA. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in TEGNA by 2,898.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,806,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,521,000 after acquiring an additional 10,445,739 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TEGNA by 395.9% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 930,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,974,000 after purchasing an additional 743,052 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 757.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 662,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,453,000 after purchasing an additional 585,156 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of TEGNA by 132.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 916,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,780,000 after purchasing an additional 523,120 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of TEGNA in the third quarter valued at $5,539,000. 92.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.