Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.25 EPS

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.25, Briefing.com reports. Gray Television had a negative return on equity of 3.76% and a negative net margin of 2.32%. The company had revenue of $823.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $824.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.48) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Gray Television Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GTN opened at $7.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $5.44 and a 52 week high of $10.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $682.37 million, a P/E ratio of -5.13, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.55.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Gray Television’s payout ratio is presently -23.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GTN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Gray Television from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Gray Television in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hilton H. Howell, Jr. acquired 10,000 shares of Gray Television stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.09 per share, with a total value of $80,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,982,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,127,502.74. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 13.83% of the company’s stock.

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.