TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,770,000 shares, a growth of 16.8% from the August 31st total of 9,220,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 6.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of TEGNA in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

Get Our Latest Analysis on TEGNA

TEGNA Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE TGNA traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $15.65. The company had a trading volume of 813,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,333,059. TEGNA has a 1-year low of $12.35 and a 1-year high of $16.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.52 and a 200 day moving average of $14.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $710.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $715.40 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TEGNA will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.88, for a total transaction of $347,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 179,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,493,083.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TEGNA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of TEGNA during the 4th quarter worth about $38,009,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of TEGNA by 519.0% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 63,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 53,296 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 142.1% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 505,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,737,000 after buying an additional 67,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of TEGNA in the 4th quarter valued at $7,477,000. 92.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TEGNA

(Get Free Report)

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.

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