Short Interest in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Expands By 6.0%

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,770,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the November 30th total of 4,500,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Insider Activity at Gray Television

In related news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total transaction of $656,443.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 509,212 shares in the company, valued at $2,225,256.44. This represents a 22.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gray Television

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Management Corp VA grew its position in Gray Television by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 5,408,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,988,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,990 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,009,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,773,000 after purchasing an additional 36,541 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gray Television by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,971,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after buying an additional 57,481 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gray Television by 4.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,055,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,488,000 after buying an additional 48,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 5.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 696,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,951,000 after buying an additional 36,312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Television Stock Performance

NYSE:GTN opened at $3.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $333.89 million, a PE ratio of 2.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.13 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Gray Television has a 12-month low of $2.91 and a 12-month high of $10.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.87.

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

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.55%. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.