Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Up 6.0% in December

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,770,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the November 30th total of 4,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 5.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark reduced their price target on Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barrington Research upgraded shares of Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.67.

Insider Transactions at Gray Television

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Gray Television in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Gray Television during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gray Television in the second quarter valued at $60,000. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Stock Performance

NYSE:GTN opened at $3.15 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.95 million, a P/E ratio of 2.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.36. Gray Television has a 12-month low of $2.91 and a 12-month high of $10.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $950.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.49 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.57) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.