E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings 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 brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.95.

SSP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research raised E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Benchmark cut their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised E.W. Scripps to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

SSP opened at $2.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58. E.W. Scripps has a 1 year low of $2.02 and a 1 year high of $5.39. The firm has a market cap of $257.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.59.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.32. The company had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 4.63% and a negative return on equity of 0.56%. As a group, analysts predict that E.W. Scripps will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total value of $497,535.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,860.04. This trade represents a 53.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887. 5.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $18,842,000 after acquiring an additional 871,159 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 1.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,729,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 57,441 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in E.W. Scripps by 9.0% in the first 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 during the period. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 4.2% in the fourth 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 position in E.W. Scripps by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,596,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,372,000 after buying an additional 34,323 shares during the period. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.