New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stock Holdings in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,480 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Sinclair were worth $121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Sinclair during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Sinclair by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sinclair during the third quarter worth $91,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Sinclair during the third quarter valued at $121,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in Sinclair by 103.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 26,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 13,390 shares during the last quarter. 41.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sinclair Price Performance

Shares of SBGI stock opened at $14.33 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $951.81 million, a P/E ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.62. Sinclair, Inc. has a one year low of $11.13 and a one year high of $18.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.98%. Sinclair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.46%.

Insider Transactions at Sinclair

In related news, Chairman David D. Smith purchased 38,410 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.01 per share, for a total transaction of $538,124.10. Following the purchase, the chairman now owns 645,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,044,351.64. This trade represents a 6.33 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 46.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SBGI. StockNews.com downgraded Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Sinclair in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Sinclair from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Sinclair from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sinclair presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.70.

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.