TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) Plans $0.13 Quarterly Dividend

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.125 per share on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

TEGNA has increased its dividend by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years. TEGNA has a payout ratio of 25.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect TEGNA to earn $1.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

TEGNA Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE TGNA opened at $18.11 on Thursday. TEGNA has a 12 month low of $12.35 and a 12 month high of $19.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.04.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,535,718.80. This trade represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TGNA. Benchmark increased their price target on TEGNA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on TEGNA from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded TEGNA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th.

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.