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

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.90.

A number of brokerages have commented on SSP. Wall Street Zen downgraded E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $3.33 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.12 and a 200-day moving average of $3.55. The company has a market capitalization of $308.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.68. 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.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SSP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 22.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,729,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 57,441 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,661,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,902,000 after purchasing an additional 219,839 shares in the last quarter. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,310,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,217,000 after purchasing an additional 93,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,596,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,372,000 after purchasing an additional 34,323 shares during the last quarter. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

E.W. Scripps Company Profile

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.