Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 57,481 Shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,971,374 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 57,481 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.98% of Gray Television worth $10,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 9.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 61,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 5,555 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Gray Television during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 2.6% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 139,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gray Television by 463.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 50,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gray Television

In other news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total value of $656,443.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 509,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,225,256.44. This represents a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 13.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GTN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark dropped 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barrington Research upgraded shares of Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.67.

Gray Television Stock Performance

NYSE GTN opened at $3.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.95 million, a P/E ratio of 2.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $4.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.91. Gray Television, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.91 and a 1 year high of $10.07.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.08). Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. The firm had revenue of $950.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.57) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gray Television, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.16%. Gray Television’s payout ratio is 21.33%.

Gray Television Profile

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.