Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI – Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.17.

SBGI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on Sinclair Broadcast Group in a research note on Monday, May 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. TheStreet raised Sinclair Broadcast Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Sinclair Broadcast Group from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Sinclair Broadcast Group from $22.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sinclair Broadcast Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SBGI. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Sinclair Broadcast Group by 154.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group by 300.1% in the 1st quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 5,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 4,117 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new position in Sinclair Broadcast Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Sinclair Broadcast Group by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in Sinclair Broadcast Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $99,000. 51.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBGI opened at $15.84 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.57. Sinclair Broadcast Group has a 52-week low of $12.64 and a 52-week high of $26.30.

Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ:SBGI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.62. Sinclair Broadcast Group had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 42.03%. The firm had revenue of $960.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $985.81 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sinclair Broadcast Group will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 26th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. Sinclair Broadcast Group’s payout ratio is 27.93%.

About Sinclair Broadcast Group

(Get Rating)

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc is a media company engaged in the provision of local sports and news. It operates through the following segments: Broadcast, Local Sports, and Others. The Broadcast segment consists of television stations which offer programming and operating services, and sales and other non-programming operating services.