Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) Trading Up 8% Following Dividend Announcement

Key Points

• Gray Media's stock (NYSE:GTN) rose 8% to $5.46 following the announcement of a dividend of $0.08 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 5.8%.
• Several analysts have issued upgrades to Gray Media, with Benchmark raising its price target from $7.00 to $9.00 and Barrington Research changing its rating from "hold" to "strong buy" with a target of $6.50.
• Gray Media reported a net loss of ($0.42) earnings per share for the last quarter, falling short of analysts’ expectations, despite generating $772 million in revenue.

Gray Media Inc. (NYSE:GTN - Get Free Report) was up 8% during trading on Tuesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $5.40 and last traded at $5.46. Approximately 301,489 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 1,487,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.06.The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. Gray Media's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GTN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (up from $7.00) on shares of Gray Media in a research note on Monday. Barrington Research raised Gray Media from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $6.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Gray Media from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Gray Media from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.88.

Gray Media Trading Up 9.0%

The business's 50-day moving average price is $4.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.16. The company has a market capitalization of $559.89 million, a P/E ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.20. 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 quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.16 million. Gray Media had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 5.64%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Gray Media Inc. will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gray Media

In related news, CFO Jeffrey R. Gignac acquired 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.68 per share, with a total value of $46,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 644,599 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,372,124.32. The trade was a 1.98% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 15.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Media

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GTN. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Gray Media by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 53,242 shares of the company's stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Gray Media by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 421,599 shares of the company's stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 31,161 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gray Media by 214,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 12,852 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 12,846 shares during the period. FIL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Gray Media during the fourth quarter worth about $374,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Gray Media by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 298,486 shares of the company's stock worth $940,000 after buying an additional 26,214 shares during the period. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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