TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) Share Price Passes Above 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)’s share price passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

TEGNA Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

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

TEGNA Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. TEGNA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In related news, COO Lynn B. Trelstad sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 154,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,718.80. This trade represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of TEGNA by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in TEGNA by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 891,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,068,000 after buying an additional 184,845 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in TEGNA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $528,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in TEGNA by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in TEGNA by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 5,330 shares in the last quarter. 92.19% of the stock is owned by 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.