Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Update

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,620,000 shares, a growth of 10.3% from the October 31st total of 4,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Gray Television Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GTN traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $4.30. 292,026 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,271,237. The company has a market cap of $428.57 million, a PE ratio of 2.85, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.13 and its 200-day moving average is $5.21. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $3.95 and a 52 week high of $10.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $950.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.49 million. Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.57) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.44%. Gray Television’s payout ratio is 21.33%.

Insider Activity at Gray Television

In related 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 transaction of $656,443.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 509,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,225,256.44. The trade was a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Gray Television by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,662,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,786,000 after purchasing an additional 506,106 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in Gray Television by 287.9% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 232,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 172,801 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA raised its holdings in Gray Television by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 5,408,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,988,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,990 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Gray Television by 454.2% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 142,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $741,000 after acquiring an additional 116,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in Gray Television by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,097 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GTN. Barrington Research raised Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Gray Television from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.67.

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.