Norges Bank Takes Position in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 688,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,170,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.69% of Gray Television at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GTN. Capital Management Corp VA lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 5,763,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,155,000 after purchasing an additional 355,067 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Gray Television by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,009,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,773,000 after buying an additional 36,541 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Gray Television by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,971,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after buying an additional 57,481 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 970,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,057,000 after buying an additional 89,385 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Gray Television by 5.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 696,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,951,000 after acquiring an additional 36,312 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GTN. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Gray Television from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gray Television from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gray Television presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.33.

Gray Television Stock Performance

GTN stock opened at $3.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.25. Gray Television, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2.91 and a 52 week high of $7.41. The stock has a market cap of $339.66 million, a P/E ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.08. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Gray Television, Inc. will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.57%. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gray Television news, Director Richard Lee Boger sold 16,000 shares of Gray Television stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $61,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares in the company, valued at $213,085.95. The trade was a 22.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

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.