Gray Media's (GTN) "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Key Points

• Benchmark raised its price target for Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) from $7.00 to $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 117.92% from the current share price.
• Gray Media reported a net loss of ($0.42) EPS for the last quarter, missing estimates by ($0.19), while revenue declined 6.5% year-over-year.
• Insider activity included CFO Jeffrey R. Gignac purchasing 12,500 shares at $3.68 each, reflecting the increased confidence from company executives in the stock's potential.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $9.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $7.00. Benchmark's price target would suggest a potential upside of 56.11% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on GTN. Wall Street Zen lowered Gray Media from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Gray Media from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gray Media presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $6.88.

Gray Media Stock Up 13.9%

Gray Media stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $5.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,082,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,557,458. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $4.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Gray Media has a 52-week low of $2.91 and a 52-week high of $6.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $585.38 million, a P/E ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.20.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $772.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $765.16 million. Gray Media had a net margin of 5.64% and a return on equity of 10.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gray Media will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Gray Media

In other Gray Media news, CFO Jeffrey R. Gignac bought 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.68 per share, with a total value of $46,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 644,599 shares in the company, valued at $2,372,124.32. The trade was a 1.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 15.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GTN. Miller Value Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Gray Media by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Miller Value Partners LLC now owns 3,384,450 shares of the company's stock worth $10,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,926,330 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in Gray Media by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 6,867,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103,690 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Gray Media by 903.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 719,201 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,265,000 after acquiring an additional 808,764 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Gray Media by 60.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,956,635 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,453,000 after acquiring an additional 734,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gray Media during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,876,000. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Gray Media

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.