Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $17.00 price target on Sinclair in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sinclair from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sinclair from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Sinclair from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sinclair has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.20.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on SBGI

Sinclair Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:SBGI opened at $13.76 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.33. Sinclair has a one year low of $12.20 and a one year high of $17.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.28, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $993.06 million, a PE ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 1.06.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by ($0.82). The company had revenue of $840.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.99 million. Sinclair had a net margin of 1.60% and a negative return on equity of 16.09%. Sinclair’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.91) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sinclair will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 133.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sinclair news, Director Daniel C. Keith sold 17,000 shares of Sinclair stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $255,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,332.44. The trade was a 40.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sinclair

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Madison Avenue Partners LP bought a new position in Sinclair during the fourth quarter worth about $13,918,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sinclair by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 906,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,875,000 after purchasing an additional 534,573 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,946,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,778,000 after purchasing an additional 373,566 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 890.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 306,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,630,000 after purchasing an additional 275,674 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,934,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,195,000 after buying an additional 220,623 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

About Sinclair

(Get Free Report)

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc (NASDAQ: SBGI) is a media and entertainment company headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Founded in 1971 as a single UHF television station operator, Sinclair has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the largest owners of local television stations in the United States. Over its history, the company has pursued a diversified portfolio that includes both traditional broadcast assets and newer digital platforms.

At its core, Sinclair operates over 190 television stations affiliated with the major national broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW and MyNetworkTV.

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