Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $30.00. The stock had previously closed at $14.67, but opened at $15.01. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Sinclair shares last traded at $14.68, with a volume of 34,709 shares trading hands.

Several other research firms have also commented on SBGI. StockNews.com lowered Sinclair from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Sinclair from $16.40 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sinclair currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sinclair

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 2.4% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,591,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,374,000 after acquiring an additional 85,070 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA raised its position in shares of Sinclair by 36.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 2,006,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,031,000 after purchasing an additional 538,740 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,889,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,626,000 after buying an additional 78,793 shares during the last quarter. Alden Global Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Sinclair by 10.5% during the second quarter. Alden Global Capital LLC now owns 1,225,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,341,000 after buying an additional 116,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 20,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

Sinclair Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.93, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $977.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.86 and its 200-day moving average is $13.24.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.40. The business had revenue of $829.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $836.65 million. Sinclair had a negative net margin of 10.78% and a positive return on equity of 22.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.09) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Sinclair Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.04%.

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.