Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.67.

GTN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research raised shares of Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their target price on Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total transaction of $656,443.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 509,212 shares in the company, valued at $2,225,256.44. This trade represents a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 13.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Television

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Management Corp VA boosted its position in shares of Gray Television by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 5,408,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,990 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Gray Television by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,009,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,773,000 after buying an additional 36,541 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,971,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after acquiring an additional 57,481 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Gray Television by 4.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,055,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,488,000 after acquiring an additional 48,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 696,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,951,000 after acquiring an additional 36,312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Stock Down 1.2 %

GTN stock opened at $3.70 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.63. The company has a market capitalization of $368.28 million, a P/E ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.40. Gray Television has a 12 month low of $2.91 and a 12 month high of $9.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $950.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.49 million. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.57) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gray Television’s payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

About Gray Television

Gray Television, Inc, a television broadcasting company, owns and/or operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. It also broadcasts secondary digital channels affiliated to ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as various other networks and program services, including CW Plus Network, MY Network, the MeTV Network, Circle, Telemundo, THE365, and Outlaw; and local news/weather channels in various markets.