Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Price Target Raised to $15.00

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) had its target price lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $14.00 to $15.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the stock.

SBGI has been the topic of several other research reports. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Sinclair from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sinclair from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Sinclair from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Sinclair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $19.40.

Sinclair Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBGI opened at $14.41 on Friday. Sinclair has a twelve month low of $12.46 and a twelve month high of $17.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by ($0.82). Sinclair had a negative return on equity of 16.09% and a net margin of 1.60%.The business had revenue of $840.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.91) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Sinclair will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel C. Keith sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $255,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,332.44. This trade represents a 40.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David B. Gibber sold 29,246 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total transaction of $401,840.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 184,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,531,512.56. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 42.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sinclair

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Sinclair by 5.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 41,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 2,258 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Sinclair by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Sinclair by 134.7% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 11,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 6,615 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Sinclair by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Sinclair by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 31,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

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.