TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) issued its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $650.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $658.28 million. TEGNA had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 14.99%.TEGNA’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share.

TEGNA Stock Performance

NYSE:TGNA traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $20.10. 85,609 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,033,165. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.51. TEGNA has a 52 week low of $14.87 and a 52 week high of $21.35.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. TEGNA’s payout ratio is currently 23.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of TEGNA by 16.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in TEGNA by 514.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 17,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 14,668 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in TEGNA by 73.7% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 23,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 9,759 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in TEGNA by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 640,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,728,000 after acquiring an additional 43,231 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in TEGNA by 83.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 16,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 7,393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGNA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of TEGNA in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of TEGNA in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded TEGNA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.75.

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.