Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Acquires 5,553 Shares of TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,901 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,553 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in TEGNA were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in TEGNA by 190.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,224,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,985,000 after purchasing an additional 2,114,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in TEGNA by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,582,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,163,000 after acquiring an additional 499,171 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in TEGNA by 4.4% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 10,574,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,046,000 after acquiring an additional 445,464 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 10.0% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,668,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,019,000 after acquiring an additional 424,579 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of TEGNA by 152.9% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 537,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,825,000 after acquiring an additional 324,724 shares during the period. 92.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at TEGNA

In other news, CEO David T. Lougee sold 150,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.21, for a total transaction of $2,281,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 636,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,677,545.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David T. Lougee sold 43,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.70, for a total value of $643,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,667,069.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David T. Lougee sold 150,000 shares of TEGNA stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.21, for a total value of $2,281,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 636,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,677,545.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark decreased their price target on TEGNA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on TEGNA from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

TEGNA Stock Performance

Shares of TGNA stock opened at $13.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.21 and a 200-day moving average of $14.83. TEGNA Inc. has a one year low of $13.18 and a one year high of $17.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 2.48.

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $725.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.78 million. TEGNA had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TEGNA Inc. will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

TEGNA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.114 per share. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. TEGNA’s payout ratio is presently 20.35%.

About TEGNA

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.