E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

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

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Benchmark decreased their price target on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, E.W. Scripps has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of SSP stock opened at $2.81 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. E.W. Scripps has a 1 year low of $2.02 and a 1 year high of $5.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.23 million, a P/E ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Insider Activity at E.W. Scripps

In other news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total transaction of $497,535.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares in the company, valued at $429,860.04. The trade was a 53.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887. Company insiders own 5.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,273,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,375,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,117,000 after acquiring an additional 258,908 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 219,839 shares during the last quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. increased its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 233.3% during the 1st quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 241,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $898,000 after acquiring an additional 169,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in E.W. Scripps by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 104,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 8,900 shares during the period. 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.