Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.25.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GTN. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.50 price target on shares of Gray Media in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Gray Media from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Gray Media from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Gray Media in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gray Media from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Media

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Gray Media by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 94,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 18,928 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Gray Media in the 3rd quarter valued at $80,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its holdings in Gray Media by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,236,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,758,000 after purchasing an additional 983,415 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gray Media by 169.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 362,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,093,000 after purchasing an additional 227,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Gray Media during the third quarter worth about $1,640,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Gray Media Stock Down 0.1%

GTN stock opened at $4.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $452.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Gray Media has a 12 month low of $3.13 and a 12 month high of $6.30.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by $0.17. Gray Media had a return on equity of 5.50% and a net margin of 2.81%.The firm had revenue of $749.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $745.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Gray Media will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Gray Media Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Gray Media’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.05%.

About Gray Media

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) is a U.S.-based broadcasting and digital media company that owns and operates a portfolio of local television stations and associated digital platforms. The company’s core business centers on delivering local news, sports and entertainment programming through its network-affiliated broadcast outlets. In addition to traditional over-the-air distribution, Gray Media supports multi-platform video streaming and on-demand services for audiences across its markets.

Gray Media’s television stations carry network programming from major national broadcasters, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW, and often feature locally produced news and public affairs content.