Short Interest in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Declines By 8.7%

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,210,000 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the June 30th total of 6,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Approximately 7.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GTN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Gray Television to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.40.

Gray Television Price Performance

GTN stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $6.08. 1,002,175 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,245,922. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $4.39 and a 52 week high of $10.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $602.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.13 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.25. Gray Television had a net margin of 1.30% and a return on equity of 2.13%. The firm had revenue of $823.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $824.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.48) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Gray Television will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. Gray Television’s payout ratio is presently -266.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Gray Television by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 17,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 1,644 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Gray Television by 3.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 91,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 13.7% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 3,097 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 139,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares during the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.