Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Gray Media has a consensus “Hold” rating from six brokerages: three buys, two holds and one sell. The average 12-month price target is $7.88, versus a recent share price of $4.58.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share versus an estimated loss of $0.08, while revenue rose 8.7% year over year to $839 million.
• Gray Media declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08, equivalent to a 7.0% annualized yield. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the stock, with several major funds establishing new positions during the second quarter.

Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.8750.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Gray Media from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Gray Media in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Gray Media Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GTN traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $4.58. The company had a trading volume of 175,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,308,537. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.57. Gray Media has a fifty-two week low of $3.55 and a fifty-two week high of $6.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $471.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $839.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.13 million. Gray Media had a negative net margin of 0.83% and a negative return on equity of 1.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.71) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Gray Media will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Gray Media Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Gray Media's dividend payout ratio is currently -52.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Value Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gray Media during the second quarter worth $28,756,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gray Media in the second quarter worth about $27,789,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Gray Media by 1.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,168,991 shares of the company's stock worth $5,073,000 after acquiring an additional 16,833 shares during the last quarter. DSC Meridian Capital LP acquired a new position in Gray Media during the second quarter worth about $3,731,000. Finally, Invst LLC purchased a new stake in Gray Media during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,338,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company's stock.

Gray Media Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.