Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Shares Climb 6.2% – Here’s What Happened

Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)’s share price shot up 6.2% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $15.08 and last traded at $15.1190. 868,176 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 75% from the average session volume of 496,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SBGI. Weiss Ratings cut Sinclair from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Sinclair from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sinclair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Sinclair from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sinclair presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.40.

Sinclair Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.28, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $13.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 1.24.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.33. Sinclair had a negative return on equity of 3.94% and a net margin of 2.84%. The company had revenue of $893.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $874.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.02) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sinclair, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sinclair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Sinclair by 7.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,622,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,001,000 after acquiring an additional 113,788 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Corp VA boosted its stake in Sinclair by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 1,437,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,247,000 after purchasing an additional 28,902 shares during the last quarter. Converium Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Sinclair by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Converium Capital Inc. now owns 1,062,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,748,000 after purchasing an additional 144,674 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 774,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,833,000 after purchasing an additional 33,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sinclair by 216.2% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 104,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 71,134 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

About Sinclair

Sinclair, Inc., formerly known as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a U.S. media company focused on local television broadcasting. Its stations provide local news, sports and entertainment programming, often alongside content from major television networks. The company also operates national television brands, including Tennis Channel and the multicast networks Comet, Charge! and TBD. Its businesses include producing and distributing programming and selling advertising across its television and digital platforms.