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

Shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.95.

A number of research firms recently commented on SSP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, March 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 11,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total transaction of $36,976.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 266,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,761.97. This represents a 4.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 326,675 shares of company stock worth $1,117,887 in the last three months. 5.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Penn Capital Management Company LLC grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 151.7% during the third quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,599,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. Teton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the third quarter valued at about $728,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,116,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after purchasing an additional 158,116 shares during the period. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the fourth quarter valued at about $289,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,442,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,744,000 after purchasing an additional 16,359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 1.0%

SSP stock opened at $2.99 on Friday. E.W. Scripps has a 1-year low of $2.02 and a 1-year high of $5.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $3.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.70 million, a P/E ratio of -1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

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

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.