Gabelli Funds LLC Has $17.99 Million Holdings in Sinclair, Inc. $SBGI

Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) by 9.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,191,313 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,759 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Sinclair were worth $17,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sinclair by 5.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 41,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 2,258 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted 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 buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 6,615 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 971,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,431,000 after buying an additional 129,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its stake in shares of Sinclair by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 8,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SBGI. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Sinclair from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sinclair from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sinclair from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Sinclair from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Sinclair from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sinclair currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

Insider Transactions at Sinclair

In related news, EVP David B. Gibber sold 29,376 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,755,084.24. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard E. Friedman sold 14,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total value of $222,313.43. Following the sale, the director directly owned 77,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,173,820.35. This represents a 15.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,637 shares of company stock worth $815,535. 41.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sinclair Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of SBGI stock opened at $15.60 on Friday. Sinclair, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.89 and a 52-week high of $17.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.29 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.92 and its 200-day moving average is $14.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.78, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.07. The business 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%.Sinclair’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Sinclair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 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.