Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on GTN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Gray Media from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Gray Media in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Gray Media from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Media currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.25.

Gray Media Trading Down 4.1%

GTN opened at $4.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4.77 and a 200 day moving average of $5.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. Gray Media has a 12 month low of $3.13 and a 12 month high of $6.30. The firm has a market cap of $442.56 million, a P/E ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.89.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $749.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $745.25 million. Gray Media had a return on equity of 5.50% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gray Media will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Gray Media Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Gray Media’s payout ratio is currently 78.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Gray Media by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,998,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,672,000 after purchasing an additional 251,419 shares in the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Gray Media by 43.6% during the third quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,236,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,758,000 after buying an additional 983,415 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Gray Media by 36.7% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,881,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,873,000 after acquiring an additional 504,780 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Gray Media by 76.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,361,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,169,000 after acquiring an additional 590,704 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Gray Media by 81.7% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,209,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,992,000 after acquiring an additional 543,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Media Company Profile

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) is a U.S.-based broadcasting and digital media company that owns and operates a portfolio of local television stations and associated digital platforms. The company’s core business centers on delivering local news, sports and entertainment programming through its network-affiliated broadcast outlets. In addition to traditional over-the-air distribution, Gray Media supports multi-platform video streaming and on-demand services for audiences across its markets.

Gray Media’s television stations carry network programming from major national broadcasters, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW, and often feature locally produced news and public affairs content.