Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.30.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SBGI. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Sinclair in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman David D. Smith purchased 30,296 shares of Sinclair stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.09 per share, with a total value of $426,870.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now owns 728,986 shares in the company, valued at $10,271,412.74. The trade was a 4.34 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 244,639 shares of company stock worth $3,550,290 in the last three months. 46.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sinclair

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SBGI. Carronade Capital Management LP grew its position in Sinclair by 418.1% in the 4th quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 440,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,108,000 after purchasing an additional 355,419 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Sinclair during the third quarter worth approximately $2,110,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in Sinclair in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,605,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Sinclair in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,688,000. Finally, Empyrean Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Sinclair by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP now owns 1,144,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,472,000 after acquiring an additional 84,493 shares in the last quarter. 41.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sinclair Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of SBGI opened at $16.96 on Monday. Sinclair has a one year low of $11.13 and a one year high of $18.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.14 and a beta of 1.50.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Sinclair had a positive return on equity of 63.89% and a negative net margin of 6.14%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sinclair will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.46%.

About Sinclair

Sinclair, Inc, a media company, provides content on local television stations and digital platforms in the United States. It operates through two segments, Local Media and Tennis. The Local Media segment operates broadcast television stations, original networks, and content; provides free-over-the-air programming and live local sporting events on its stations; distributes its content to multi-channel video programming distributors in exchange for contractual fees; and produces local and original news programs.