Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) Stock Price Up 3.1%

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)’s share price shot up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $5.76 and last traded at $5.73. 331,938 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 1,160,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GTN. Barrington Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Gray Television in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Gray Television from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.80.

Gray Television Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $6.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.43.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $864.00 million for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gray Television, Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gray Television’s payout ratio is -23.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hilton H. Howell, Jr. purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,127,502.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 13.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gray Television

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gray Television by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,156,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,200,000 after acquiring an additional 247,112 shares in the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP lifted its position in shares of Gray Television by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 85,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 32,822 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 123,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Gray Television by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 88,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 6,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Gray Television by 107.9% during the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 44,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 22,994 shares during the period. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.