Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Stock Price Down 6.7% – What’s Next?

Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) shares dropped 6.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $15.85 and last traded at $15.65. Approximately 187,826 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 302,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SBGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Sinclair in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

Sinclair Trading Down 6.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.75 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.82.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Sinclair had a negative net margin of 6.14% and a positive return on equity of 63.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio is 21.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman David D. Smith acquired 30,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.09 per share, for a total transaction of $426,870.64. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 728,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,271,412.74. This represents a 4.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 262,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,844,778. 46.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sinclair

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Carronade Capital Management LP grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 355,419 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Sinclair in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,110,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Sinclair during the fourth quarter worth $1,688,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Sinclair by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP now owns 1,144,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,472,000 after buying an additional 84,493 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sinclair by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,714,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,945,000 after acquiring an additional 64,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

About Sinclair

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.