Central Square Management Disclosed 5.01% Stake In $NXST

Kelly Cardwell – Central Square Management reported its 5.01% passive stake in Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc. (NXST) on December 29th. According to the filing, Central Square Management now has about 771 million shares in the stock. This figure is slightly less than the amount Central Square Management reported at the end of September – 776 million shares. The filing also indicates Central Square Management built its position in early September when the stock was hovering around $6/share. So now the firm’s NXST position has returned nearly 30%. The stock is now trading at $7.78.

There are several other hedge funds that were bullish about the stock in the third quarter. Randall Smith’s Alden Global Capital increased its position by 3% and had 732 thousand shares. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies decreased its position by 8% and retained 675 thousand shares in the stock.

Kelly Cardwell is the owner of Central Square Management. According to Mr. Cardwell’s Linkedin profile, Central Square Capital “is a long/short equity hedge fund which places a heavy emphasis on bottom up stock picking which seeks to minimize sector risk and aims to maximize superior stock picking ability through concentration. Mr. Cardwell was named one of Institutional Investor News’ 2009 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds.” Per Institutional Investors, the firm “began trading on August 3rd, 2007, and saw assets under management grow from $4.3 million to $35 million in just under two years. Prior to founding Central Square, Cardwell held an analyst position at Fidelity Investments, departing as portfolio manager in 2007. During his tenure at Fidelity, Cardwell managed the $60 million Select Automotive Fund, before transitioning to the $1 billion Select Software and Computer Services Fund, ranked as the number one performing fund within the science and technology sector in 2006.”

Per Google Finance, Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. “is a television broadcasting and digital media company focused on the acquisition, development and operation of television stations in the United States. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned, operated, programmed or provided sales and other services to 59 television stations and four digital multi-cast channels, including those owned by Mission, in 34 markets in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, New York, Rhode Island, Utah and Florida. These stations reach approximately 13.3 million viewers. In July 2011, the Company acquired GoLocal.Biz.”