Optas LLC Makes New $50,000 Investment in The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP)

Optas LLC bought a new position in shares of The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in E.W. Scripps by 1,619.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,203,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,918,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,027 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 243,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $958,000 after buying an additional 18,375 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,203,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,614,000 after buying an additional 210,673 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 32,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

Shares of SSP opened at $2.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $2.86 and a 200-day moving average of $3.49. The company has a market cap of $184.44 million, a PE ratio of -0.19 and a beta of 1.79. The E.W. Scripps Company has a one year low of $1.96 and a one year high of $9.35.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.17). E.W. Scripps had a positive return on equity of 3.17% and a negative net margin of 39.87%. The business had revenue of $573.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $586.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SSP. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $6.00 to $4.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th.

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.