Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.33.

GTN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gray Television from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Gray Television from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th.

Gray Television Trading Down 6.1 %

Shares of Gray Television stock opened at $4.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $447.30 million, a P/E ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.45. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $2.91 and a 1 year high of $7.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.35.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.59. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. Analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard Lee Boger sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $61,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $213,085.95. This represents a 22.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GTN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Gray Television by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 239,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,654 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Gray Television by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 14,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 3,262 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Gray Television by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 21,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 3,419 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Gray Television by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 336,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in Gray Television by 27.4% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 19,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,083 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% 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.