GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. Increases Stock Holdings in Sinclair, Inc. $SBGI

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. boosted its holdings in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) by 108.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,842 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,117 shares during the period. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. owned 0.12% of Sinclair worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kennondale Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Sinclair by 42.6% during the third quarter. Kennondale Capital Management LLC now owns 153,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,323,000 after buying an additional 45,944 shares during the period. Advyzon Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sinclair during the third quarter worth $185,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Sinclair by 239.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 105,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,593,000 after buying an additional 74,415 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sinclair by 1.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,625,000 after buying an additional 2,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sinclair during the third quarter worth about $568,000. 41.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sinclair from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised Sinclair from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sinclair from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Sinclair from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sinclair

In other news, EVP David B. Gibber sold 29,376 shares of Sinclair stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.67, for a total value of $489,697.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 165,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,755,084.24. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Benson E. Legg sold 6,548 shares of Sinclair stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.81, for a total value of $103,523.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 71,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,125,118.65. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,637 shares of company stock worth $815,535. 41.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sinclair Price Performance

Shares of SBGI opened at $15.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -9.29 and a beta of 0.94. Sinclair, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.89 and a 1-year high of $17.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.78, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $836.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $840.25 million. Sinclair had a negative return on equity of 64.27% and a negative net margin of 3.53%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Sinclair Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -59.52%.

Sinclair Company Profile

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.