E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.90.

SSP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on E.W. Scripps from $4.70 to $3.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SSP. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 174.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 582,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,166,000 after acquiring an additional 370,260 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the first quarter valued at about $5,273,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 23.2% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,375,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,117,000 after buying an additional 258,908 shares during the period. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. boosted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 233.3% during the first quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 241,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 169,050 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 9.0% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,661,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,902,000 after buying an additional 219,839 shares in the last quarter. 67.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ SSP opened at $2.69 on Tuesday. E.W. Scripps has a 52-week low of $2.02 and a 52-week high of $5.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $249.28 million, a P/E ratio of -0.19 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $3.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.45.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.19. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 58.02% and a negative return on equity of 4.58%. The company had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $511.65 million.

E.W. Scripps Company Profile

The E.W. Scripps Company is a diversified media company that operates local television stations and national broadcast and digital media networks. Its local media business provides news, weather, sports and community programming through television stations serving markets across the United States, along with related digital platforms.

Scripps’ national portfolio includes Scripps News, a 24-hour news service, and entertainment and specialty networks such as ION, Bounce, Court TV, Grit and ION Mystery.