Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Update

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,420,000 shares, a drop of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 4,770,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,380,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GTN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barrington Research raised Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gray Television has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.67.

Insider Transactions at Gray Television

In other news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total transaction of $656,443.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 509,212 shares in the company, valued at $2,225,256.44. This represents a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 13.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Television

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $1,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,654 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Gray Television by 2.6% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 139,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Gray Television by 27.4% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 19,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 4,083 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 35,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 5,177 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Gray Television by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 70,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 6,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Stock Performance

Shares of Gray Television stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $3.31. 806,154 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,538,182. The stock has a market capitalization of $329.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.76. Gray Television has a 52-week low of $2.91 and a 52-week high of $10.07. 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 results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $950.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.49 million. Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. Gray Television’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.57) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gray Television’s payout ratio is presently 21.33%.

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.