Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.33.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GTN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Gray Television from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Gray Television from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Gray Television from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Gray Television Stock Performance

NYSE:GTN opened at $5.39 on Wednesday. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $4.15 and a 1 year high of $10.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $534.35 million, a PE ratio of -44.92, a PEG ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 1.49.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). Gray Television had a net margin of 1.84% and a return on equity of 3.02%. The firm had revenue of $826.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $840.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Gray Television’s payout ratio is -266.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gray Television

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GTN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 9.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,662,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,786,000 after buying an additional 506,106 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 18.6% during the first quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 3,670,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,197,000 after buying an additional 575,527 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 0.8% during the second quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,941,000 after buying an additional 10,093 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 1.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,307,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,262,000 after buying an additional 23,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 4.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,055,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,488,000 after buying an additional 48,623 shares during the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.