Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Short Interest Up 18.4% in August

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,080,000 shares, a growth of 18.4% from the July 31st total of 5,980,000 shares. Currently, 8.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gray Television

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. Capital Management Corp VA grew its stake in shares of Gray Television by 18.6% in the first quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 3,670,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,197,000 after acquiring an additional 575,527 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Gray Television by 232.4% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 813,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 568,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Gray Television by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,662,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,786,000 after purchasing an additional 506,106 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Gray Television during the 4th quarter valued at $3,671,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Gray Television during the 1st quarter valued at $2,010,000. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GTN shares. Loop Capital raised shares of Gray Television to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Gray Television from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price target on Gray Television from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.33.

Gray Television Stock Down 0.4 %

Gray Television stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,036,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,304,098. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $5.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $505.60 million, a P/E ratio of -42.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.52. Gray Television has a 12-month low of $4.15 and a 12-month high of $10.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). Gray Television had a return on equity of 2.13% and a net margin of 1.30%. The firm had revenue of $826.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $840.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.10) earnings per share. Gray Television’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.27%. Gray Television’s payout ratio is -266.67%.

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.