Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) Trading 5.9% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)’s share price traded up 5.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4.95 and last traded at $4.95. 1,403,461 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 1,323,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Gray Television from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim dropped 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.33.

Gray Television Trading Up 5.9 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $502.13 million, a P/E ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.45. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.59. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gray Television, Inc. will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $61,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,085.95. The trade was a 22.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 1.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Gray Television by 114.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 272,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 145,263 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Gray Television in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,000. Capital Management Corp VA boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 109.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 127,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 66,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.