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

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

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SSP. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on 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. Benchmark cut their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded E.W. Scripps to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 67.1% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 14,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 5,992 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 67.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of SSP opened at $3.19 on Friday. E.W. Scripps has a fifty-two week low of $2.02 and a fifty-two week high of $5.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.56. The stock has a market cap of $295.62 million, a PE ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 0.65. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $511.65 million.

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.