Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Lifted to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Sinclair from $16.40 to $16.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Benchmark boosted their target price on Sinclair from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.88.

Sinclair Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of SBGI stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.26. 383,634 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 438,629. Sinclair has a 52-week low of $9.39 and a 52-week high of $17.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.54. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $13.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.93, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.40. The business had revenue of $829.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $836.65 million. Sinclair had a positive return on equity of 22.55% and a negative net margin of 10.78%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.09) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sinclair will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.55%. Sinclair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Sinclair by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,591,266 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,374,000 after purchasing an additional 85,070 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA increased its stake in shares of Sinclair by 36.7% during the first quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 2,006,720 shares of the company's stock worth $27,031,000 after buying an additional 538,740 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Sinclair by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,889,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,626,000 after acquiring an additional 78,793 shares in the last quarter. Alden Global Capital LLC lifted its stake in Sinclair by 10.5% in the second quarter. Alden Global Capital LLC now owns 1,225,868 shares of the company's stock worth $16,341,000 after acquiring an additional 116,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Sinclair by 1.7% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,208,700 shares of the company's stock worth $16,112,000 after acquiring an additional 20,700 shares during the last quarter. 41.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sinclair Company Profile

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.