Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Director Sells $222,313.43 in Stock

Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) Director Howard Friedman sold 14,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total transaction of $222,313.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 77,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,173,820.35. The trade was a 15.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Sinclair Price Performance

Shares of SBGI opened at $14.88 on Friday. Sinclair, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.89 and a fifty-two week high of $17.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -24.00 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.77, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $773.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.78 million. Sinclair had a negative net margin of 1.35% and a negative return on equity of 10.19%. The business’s revenue was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Sinclair’s payout ratio is -161.29%.

Institutional Trading of Sinclair

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in Sinclair by 7.7% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,242,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,069,000 after purchasing an additional 302,160 shares during the period. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in Sinclair by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 1,655,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,991,000 after buying an additional 97,226 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,191,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,989,000 after buying an additional 102,759 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 971,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,431,000 after buying an additional 129,277 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 668,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,096,000 after buying an additional 212,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Sinclair from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Sinclair in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sinclair from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

About Sinclair

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.