E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on SSP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $4.70 to $3.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given 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 target price of $5.90.

E.W. Scripps Stock Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $3.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.22 and a beta of 0.68. E.W. Scripps has a twelve month low of $2.02 and a twelve month high of $5.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $3.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.65 million.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SSP. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 71,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 8,746 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 9.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 469,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,745,000 after acquiring an additional 42,138 shares during the period. Rangeley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the first quarter worth approximately $318,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 23.2% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,375,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,117,000 after purchasing an additional 258,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 233.3% in the first quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 241,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 169,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.