Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Update

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,380,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the March 15th total of 4,120,000 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard Lee Boger sold 16,000 shares of Gray Television stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $61,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,347 shares in the company, valued at $213,085.95. This trade represents a 22.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 15.22% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Television

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. Miller Value Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 132.1% in the 4th quarter. Miller Value Partners LLC now owns 3,384,450 shares of the company's stock worth $10,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,926,330 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 903.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 719,201 shares of the company's stock worth $2,265,000 after acquiring an additional 808,764 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Gray Television in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,170,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Gray Television by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,161,862 shares of the company's stock worth $3,660,000 after acquiring an additional 400,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Gray Television during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,261,000. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Gray Television from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Gray Television from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.33.

Gray Television Price Performance

Shares of Gray Television stock traded up $0.01 on Friday, reaching $3.35. The stock had a trading volume of 645,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,416,406. The business's 50 day moving average is $3.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.19. The company has a market cap of $339.66 million, a P/E ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.08. Gray Television has a 1 year low of $2.91 and a 1 year high of $7.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.59. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Gray Television's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.61%.

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.

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