TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Stock Price Passes Above Fifty Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.30 and traded as high as $18.30. TEGNA shares last traded at $18.25, with a volume of 1,887,151 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TGNA shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TEGNA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $23.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

TEGNA Stock Down 1.1 %

The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.30 and its 200 day moving average is $16.08. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $806.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.72 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that TEGNA Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other TEGNA news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,718.80. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in TEGNA by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of TEGNA by 20.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of TEGNA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 173,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in TEGNA by 48.2% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. 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.