E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on SSP. Benchmark decreased their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $4.70 to $3.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.90.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

SSP stock opened at $3.26 on Friday. E.W. Scripps has a fifty-two week low of $2.02 and a fifty-two week high of $5.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $3.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $302.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SSP. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the 1st quarter worth about $5,273,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in E.W. Scripps by 886.8% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,280,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,092 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in E.W. Scripps by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,722,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in E.W. Scripps by 174.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 582,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,166,000 after purchasing an additional 370,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in E.W. Scripps by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 815,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,255,000 after purchasing an additional 368,852 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

About E.W. Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company is a diversified U.S. media organization headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Established in 1878 by Edward Willis Scripps, the company began as a newspaper publisher before expanding into broadcast television, cable networks and digital journalism. Today, Scripps combines a legacy of local news reporting with a growing portfolio of national cable channels and digital platforms.

Scripps operates more than 60 television stations across over 40 markets, delivering local news, weather, sports and entertainment programming to communities in both large and mid-sized U.S.