Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Down 18.0% in March

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) saw a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,380,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the March 15th total of 4,120,000 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gray Television

In other news, Director Richard Lee Boger sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $61,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,085.95. The trade was a 22.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 15.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Gray Television by 157.6% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 5,355 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Gray Television during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Gray Television in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $59,000. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gray Television Stock Performance

Shares of Gray Television stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $3.21. 1,090,132 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,415,103. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $3.98 and a 200-day moving average of $4.18. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $2.91 and a 1 year high of $7.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $325.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.59. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Gray Television will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GTN. Wells Fargo & Company raised Gray Television from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gray Television has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.33.

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.