Zacks Research Upgrades Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Gray Media from “hold” to “strong buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “moderate buy” with a $7.88 target price.
• Gray Media’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, reporting $0.21 in EPS versus a projected loss of $0.08 and revenue of $839 million, up 8.7% year over year.
• GTN opened at $4.50, near its 50- and 200-day moving averages, and institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s shares.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on GTN. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gray Media from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Gray Media from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $7.88.

Gray Media Stock Down 0.3%

GTN stock opened at $4.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $462.90 million, a P/E ratio of -7.37, a PEG ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 0.96. Gray Media has a one year low of $3.55 and a one year high of $6.43.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $839.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.13 million. Gray Media had a negative return on equity of 1.12% and a negative net margin of 0.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gray Media will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Media

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Gray Media during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Gray Media by 57.1% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in Gray Media in the first quarter valued at about $49,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gray Media during the second quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Media in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gray Media

Gray Media, Inc NYSE: GTN is a media company that owns and operates local television stations and digital media properties across the United States. Its stations provide local news, weather, sports, investigative reporting and community programming, while also carrying programming from major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and The CW.

The company's operations include television broadcasting, digital publishing, video production and related media services. Gray Media also produces and distributes original content through its local stations and other media platforms, serving audiences in a range of metropolitan and regional markets.

Founded as Gray Television in 1946, the company expanded through acquisitions and organic growth before adopting the Gray Media name.

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