Verition Fund Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN)

Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,480 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,824 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Gray Television were worth $94,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GTN. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in shares of Gray Television by 27.6% in the third quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 5,408,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,988,000 after buying an additional 1,170,990 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Gray Television by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,941,000 after acquiring an additional 10,093 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Gray Television by 4.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,055,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,488,000 after purchasing an additional 48,623 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Gray Television by 17.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 560,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,916,000 after purchasing an additional 82,454 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Gray Television by 20.1% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 411,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,205,000 after purchasing an additional 68,795 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GTN. Barrington Research raised shares of Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gray Television has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.67.

Gray Television Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of GTN stock opened at $3.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $327.90 million, a PE ratio of 2.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.36. Gray Television, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.27 and a 52-week high of $10.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4.91 and its 200 day moving average is $5.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $950.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.49 million. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.57) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gray Television, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gray Television’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.33%.

Insider Transactions at Gray Television

In related news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total transaction of $656,443.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 509,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,225,256.44. This trade represents a 22.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.