Empyrean Capital Partners LP Has $18.47 Million Stock Position in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)

Empyrean Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in Sinclair, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,144,493 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,493 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP owned 1.72% of Sinclair worth $18,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SBGI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Sinclair by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Sinclair during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Sinclair by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Sinclair in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Sinclair in the fourth quarter worth $194,000. Institutional investors own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

Sinclair Trading Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ SBGI opened at $14.94 on Friday. Sinclair, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.13 and a 52 week high of $18.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.73, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $993.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.53 and a beta of 1.36.

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($2.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.78) by ($0.40). The company had revenue of $776.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $774.79 million. Sinclair had a negative net margin of 6.14% and a positive return on equity of 63.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sinclair, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sinclair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.69%. Sinclair’s payout ratio is 21.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sinclair news, Chairman David D. Smith acquired 30,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.09 per share, for a total transaction of $426,870.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 458,530 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,392. 46.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Sinclair from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sinclair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Sinclair from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.10.

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.