Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,020,000 shares, a drop of 15.0% from the August 15th total of 7,080,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,550,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 7.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Gray Television Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GTN traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,182,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,287,335. The firm has a market cap of $509.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $4.15 and a 1 year high of $10.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.57.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). Gray Television had a net margin of 1.84% and a return on equity of 3.02%. The firm had revenue of $826.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $840.33 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. Gray Television’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio is presently -266.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GTN. Benchmark decreased their price objective on Gray Television from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Gray Television from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Gray Television from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 9.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,662,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,786,000 after purchasing an additional 506,106 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 18.6% in the first quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 3,670,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,197,000 after acquiring an additional 575,527 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,221,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,905,000 after acquiring an additional 160,500 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 0.8% in the second quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,941,000 after acquiring an additional 10,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 1.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,307,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,262,000 after acquiring an additional 23,878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

About Gray Television

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.