Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.80.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GTN. Barrington Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Gray Television in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Gray Television from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th.

Gray Television Stock Down 2.8 %

GTN opened at $5.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Gray Television has a 12 month low of $5.44 and a 12 month high of $10.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.39. The stock has a market cap of $545.29 million, a P/E ratio of -4.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.57.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $864.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $863.31 million. Gray Television had a negative return on equity of 3.76% and a negative net margin of 2.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Gray Television will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.70%. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gray Television

In related news, CEO Hilton H. Howell, Jr. acquired 10,000 shares of Gray Television stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.09 per share, with a total value of $80,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,982,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,127,502.74. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 23.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,060,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,262,000 after acquiring an additional 386,907 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the fourth quarter valued at $964,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the third quarter worth $1,693,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Gray Television by 336.8% in the third quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 4,000,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,683,000 after buying an additional 3,084,578 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA grew its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 3,094,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,730,000 after buying an additional 661,760 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gray Television Company 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.