Verition Fund Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)

Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Gray Television by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,646,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,546,000 after buying an additional 97,570 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in Gray Television by 352.1% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 4,140,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,939,000 after buying an additional 3,225,000 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its position in Gray Television by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 3,639,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,120,000 after purchasing an additional 109,933 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Gray Television by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,309,000 after purchasing an additional 64,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 194.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,207,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,611 shares in the last quarter. 81.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GTN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Gray Television from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Barrington Research cut their price target on shares of Gray Television from $25.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, November 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Gray Television from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Gray Television from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.20.

Gray Television Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of GTN stock opened at $10.47 on Thursday. Gray Television, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.61 and a 12 month high of $23.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.46. The company has a market cap of $971.93 million, a PE ratio of 2.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 22.22 and a beta of 1.61.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.15. Gray Television had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 12.38%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Gray Television, Inc. will post 0.05 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gray Television

In related news, major shareholder Harriett J. Robinson acquired 68,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $1,225,125.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 1,042,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,572,306.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Company Profile

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Gray Television, Inc is a television broadcasting company, which engages in owning and operating television stations and digital assets in markets throughout the United States. It operates through the following segments: Broadcasting, and Production Companies. The Broadcasting segment operates television stations located across local markets in the United States.