Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) Shares Down 5.4% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) fell 5.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $5.36 and last traded at $5.32. 474,556 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 1,457,018 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GTN. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Gray Media from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Gray Media from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Gray Media from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.17.

Gray Media Stock Up 5.3%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.94. The firm has a market cap of $573.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.26. Gray Media had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 7.72%. The business had revenue of $782.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $772.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gray Media Inc. will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gray Media Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.67%. Gray Media's payout ratio is currently 13.85%.

Insider Activity at Gray Media

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gray Media

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GTN. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Gray Media in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Invst LLC purchased a new stake in Gray Media in the 1st quarter valued at $2,018,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gray Media in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Gray Media by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 464,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,008,000 after buying an additional 32,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Gray Media in the 1st quarter valued at $820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company's stock.

Gray Media 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.