Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) Price Target Increased to $13.00 by Analysts at Benchmark

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) had its price objective boosted by Benchmark from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on GTN. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Gray Television from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Barrington Research restated a market perform rating on shares of Gray Television in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $11.40.

Gray Television Stock Up 5.7 %

Shares of GTN stock traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $7.13. 1,438,871 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,135,551. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $5.44 and a 1 year high of $10.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12. The firm has a market cap of $692.58 million, a PE ratio of -5.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.55.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.25. Gray Television had a negative return on equity of 3.76% and a negative net margin of 2.32%. The firm had revenue of $823.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $824.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.48) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gray Television will post 4.21 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. Gray Television’s payout ratio is currently -23.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gray Television news, CEO Hilton H. Howell, Jr. bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.09 per share, for a total transaction of $80,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 2,982,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,127,502.74. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 13.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gray Television

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Gray Television by 336.8% in the 3rd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 4,000,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,683,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,578 shares during the period. Capital Management Corp VA raised its holdings in Gray Television by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 3,094,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,730,000 after purchasing an additional 661,760 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Gray Television by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,221,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,905,000 after purchasing an additional 160,500 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Gray Television by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 1,826,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,055 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Gray Television by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,611,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,149,000 after purchasing an additional 39,870 shares during the period. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.