TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 21,186,494 shares, a growth of 21.9% from the June 15th total of 17,382,186 shares. Approximately 9.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,911,660 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in TEGNA by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,056,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,479,000 after buying an additional 231,675 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in TEGNA by 3,145.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,306,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,917,000 after buying an additional 12,896,690 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in TEGNA by 1.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,731,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,313,000 after buying an additional 92,596 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in TEGNA by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,934,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,416,000 after buying an additional 158,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in TEGNA by 18.9% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,972,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,771,000 after buying an additional 630,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.89% of the company’s stock.
Shares of TEGNA (TGNA) opened at 14.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.86. TEGNA has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $26.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 1.74.
TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33. TEGNA had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 19.16%. The company had revenue of $778.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $799.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that TEGNA will post $1.22 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 9th were given a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 7th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. TEGNA’s payout ratio is 14.97%.
TGNA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark Co. reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of TEGNA in a report on Friday, June 16th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 5th. FBR & Co downgraded TEGNA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.50 price target on shares of TEGNA in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Finally, Barclays PLC reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of TEGNA in a report on Monday, June 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.31.
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TEGNA Company Profile
Tegna Inc has a portfolio of media and digital businesses that provide content. The Company’s segments include TEGNA Media (Media) and TEGNA Digital (Digital). As of December 31, 2016, its media business included 46 television stations operating in 38 markets and offered television programming and digital content.
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