Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) Upgraded at Barrington Research

Barrington Research upgraded shares of Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.67.

Gray Television Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE GTN opened at $4.69 on Thursday. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $3.95 and a 52 week high of $10.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.27 and its 200 day moving average is $5.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $467.45 million, a P/E ratio of 3.13, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.47.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.08). Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. The company had revenue of $950.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.49 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.57) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gray Television will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.82%. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GTN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,971,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after purchasing an additional 57,481 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Gray Television by 114.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 272,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 145,263 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new stake in Gray Television in the third quarter worth $65,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Television in the third quarter worth $67,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Gray Television by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,009,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,773,000 after acquiring an additional 36,541 shares during the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by 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.