Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.96, but opened at $16.35. Sinclair shares last traded at $16.43, with a volume of 24,065 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SBGI. Guggenheim cut their target price on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Sinclair in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

Sinclair Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -5.06 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $14.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.81.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.62. Sinclair had a negative net margin of 6.14% and a positive return on equity of 63.89%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Sinclair’s payout ratio is currently 21.46%.

Insider Activity at Sinclair

In other Sinclair news, Chairman David D. Smith purchased 30,296 shares of Sinclair stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.09 per share, for a total transaction of $426,870.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 728,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,271,412.74. The trade was a 4.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have bought 262,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,844,778. Corporate insiders own 46.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sinclair

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kendall Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Sinclair during the 4th quarter valued at $280,000. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sinclair during the third quarter valued at about $822,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Sinclair by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 86,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after buying an additional 31,015 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 378.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 54,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 42,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Sinclair by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. 41.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sinclair Company Profile

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.