StockNews.com Downgrades Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on SBGI. Guggenheim increased their price target on Sinclair from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Sinclair from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Sinclair in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sinclair has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.70.

Sinclair Price Performance

Shares of SBGI stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $14.40. The company had a trading volume of 404,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 241,421. Sinclair has a 12 month low of $11.13 and a 12 month high of $18.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $956.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 1.50. The firm's fifty day moving average is $15.04 and its 200 day moving average is $15.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 1.91.

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Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Sinclair had a positive return on equity of 63.89% and a negative net margin of 6.14%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sinclair will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Sinclair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman David D. Smith purchased 30,296 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $14.09 per share, with a total value of $426,870.64. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 728,986 shares in the company, valued at $10,271,412.74. This trade represents a 4.34 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 46.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sinclair by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,714,036 shares of the company's stock worth $59,945,000 after buying an additional 64,683 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Sinclair by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,704,282 shares of the company's stock worth $59,787,000 after buying an additional 55,350 shares during the period. 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 worth $18,472,000 after buying an additional 84,493 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Sinclair by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 826,949 shares of the company's stock worth $12,655,000 after buying an additional 15,263 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Sinclair by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 528,719 shares of the company's stock worth $8,534,000 after buying an additional 11,883 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.71% of the company's stock.

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.