Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th.

Gray Television has a dividend payout ratio of -59.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Gray Television to earn ($0.88) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -36.4%.

Gray Television Stock Performance

Shares of GTN stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $6.84. 301,076 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,126,073. The firm has a market capitalization of $664.88 million, a P/E ratio of -5.13, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $5.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.39. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $5.44 and a 52 week high of $10.69.

Gray Television (NYSE:GTN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.25. Gray Television had a negative net margin of 2.32% and a negative return on equity of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $823.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $824.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.48) earnings per share. Gray Television’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gray Television will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GTN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Gray Television from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barrington Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Gray Television in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Gray Television from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gray Television

In other news, CEO Hilton H. Howell, Jr. acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.09 per share, with a total value of $80,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,982,386 shares in the company, valued at $24,127,502.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 13.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Gray Television

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.