Gray Television, Inc. (GTN) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 14th

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Gray Television has a payout ratio of 11.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Gray Television to earn ($0.28) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -114.3%.

Gray Television Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GTN opened at $3.88 on Wednesday. Gray Television has a fifty-two week low of $2.91 and a fifty-two week high of $7.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $3.70 and its 200 day moving average is $4.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $393.48 million, a P/E ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.45.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GTN shares. Barrington Research upgraded Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gray Television from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard Lee Boger sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $61,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,085.95. This trade represents a 22.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.