E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Separately, Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of E.W. Scripps from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $2.28 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.50. E.W. Scripps has a one year low of $1.68 and a one year high of $9.35. The company has a market cap of $196.35 million, a PE ratio of -0.74 and a beta of 1.66.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.19). E.W. Scripps had a positive return on equity of 9.40% and a negative net margin of 8.55%. The business had revenue of $646.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.15) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 243,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $958,000 after acquiring an additional 18,375 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 94,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 16,882 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 53,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 8,745 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,360,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,206,000 after acquiring an additional 27,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teton Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Teton Advisors Inc. now owns 342,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

About E.W. Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a media enterprise through a portfolio of local television stations, national news, and entertainment networks in the United States. It operates through Local Media, Scripps Networks, and Other segments. The Local Media segment operates broadcast television stations, which produce news, information, sports, and entertainment content, as well as its related digital operations; runs network, syndicated, and original programming, and local sporting events; and provides core and political advertising services.