Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Up 7.3% in August

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,170,000 shares, a growth of 7.3% from the August 15th total of 4,820,000 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 900,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GTN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Gray Television in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Gray Television in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Gray Television in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Gray Television in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on Gray Television from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director T L. Elder sold 3,793 shares of Gray Television stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.36, for a total transaction of $39,295.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,513.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 7,000 shares of company stock worth $63,544. 11.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Television

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Gray Television by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 901,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,889,000 after buying an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Gray Television by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 7,207 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Gray Television by 56.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 46,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after buying an additional 16,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Gray Television by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,646,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,546,000 after buying an additional 97,570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Trading Up 0.3 %

GTN traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $7.40. 310,421 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 981,649. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.21. Gray Television has a 1-year low of $6.50 and a 1-year high of $18.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01. The company has a market cap of $706.40 million, a PE ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.61.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.09. Gray Television had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $813.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Gray Television’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Gray Television will post -0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.73%.

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, Antenna TV, Telemundo, and Cozi; and local news/weather channels in various markets.