Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Down 7.3% in December

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Gray Television Trading Up 3.0 %

Gray Television stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $3.31. The company had a trading volume of 806,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,538,182. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.75. Gray Television has a 1-year low of $2.91 and a 1-year high of $10.07. The stock has a market cap of $329.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.39.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.08). Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $950.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.57) EPS. Gray Television’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Gray Television will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Gray Television

In other Gray Television news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,225,256.44. The trade was a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 13.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning acquired a new position in Gray Television during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Gray Television during the third quarter worth about $59,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television during the second quarter worth approximately $60,000. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television during the third quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Gray Television in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

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.