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

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Gray Television has a dividend payout ratio of 10.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 %

GTN traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $3.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,248,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,352,919. Gray Television has a 52-week low of $2.91 and a 52-week high of $7.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market cap of $374.25 million, a P/E ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.41.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.59. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Gray Television had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 9.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Gray Television from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barrington Research upgraded Gray Television to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Gray Television from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Gray Television from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.67.

Insider Activity

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

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.