Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Announces $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Gray Television has a payout ratio of 10.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Gray Television to earn ($0.28) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -114.3%.

Gray Television Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE GTN traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $3.76. 4,225,578 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,351,156. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Gray Television has a twelve month low of $2.91 and a twelve month high of $7.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $374.25 million, a P/E ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.43.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Analysts predict that Gray Television will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Gray Television

In related news, EVP Kevin Paul Latek sold 150,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total value of $656,443.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 509,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,225,256.44. The trade was a 22.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GTN shares. StockNews.com upgraded Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark dropped their target price on Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barrington Research upgraded shares of Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.