Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

SBGI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Sinclair from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Sinclair from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Sinclair from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Benchmark decreased their target price on Sinclair from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sinclair from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.30.

Sinclair Trading Up 3.1%

SBGI stock opened at $14.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30 and a beta of 1.28. Sinclair has a twelve month low of $11.89 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $14.21 and a 200-day moving average of $14.47.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $784.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.16 million. Sinclair had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sinclair will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sinclair during the fourth quarter worth about $395,000. Carronade Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Sinclair by 418.1% during the fourth quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 440,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,108,000 after buying an additional 355,419 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Sinclair by 1,804.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 55,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 52,254 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Sinclair by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 57,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 3,745 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sinclair by 38.2% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 167,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,670,000 after purchasing an additional 46,367 shares during the last quarter. 41.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.