E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $2.81 on Friday. E.W. Scripps has a 1-year low of $2.02 and a 1-year high of $5.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.08 and a 200 day moving average of $3.59. The firm has a market cap of $257.23 million, a PE ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.65. 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 (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.32. The company had revenue of $516.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at E.W. Scripps

In other E.W. Scripps 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 value of $497,535.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,860.04. The trade was a 53.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887 in the last 90 days. 5.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 316,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $936,000 after acquiring an additional 25,070 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps in the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,516,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,459,000 after acquiring an additional 10,957 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 111.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 26,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 14.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 152,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 19,393 shares during the last quarter. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.