Gray Television (NYSE:GTN – Get Rating) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.
According to Zacks, “Gray Television is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently operates 15 CBS-affiliated television stations, seven NBC-affiliated television stations, seven ABC-affiliated television stations and four daily newspapers. “
Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Gray Television from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on Gray Television in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price target on Gray Television from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 7th. Finally, Barrington Research increased their price target on Gray Television from $25.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.75.
Shares of NYSE GTN opened at $18.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.82. Gray Television has a 52-week low of $18.24 and a 52-week high of $25.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 48.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.84, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 2.51.
Gray Television (NYSE:GTN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 25th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.28. Gray Television had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $687.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. Gray Television’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In related news, CFO James C. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $1,187,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director D Patrick Laplatney sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.93, for a total value of $1,255,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 348,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,301,409.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,055 shares of company stock valued at $4,705,642 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GTN. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Gray Television by 538.8% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,326,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118,789 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gray Television during the 4th quarter valued at $17,700,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Gray Television during the 1st quarter valued at $14,854,000. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,256,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,451,000 after acquiring an additional 354,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gray Television by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,778,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,849,000 after acquiring an additional 305,712 shares in the last quarter. 75.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
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, Justice, This TV Network, Antenna TV, Telemundo, Cozi, Heroes and Icons, and MOVIES! Network; and local news/weather channels in various markets.
