E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Trading Up 1.4% – What’s Next?

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) shares were up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4.02 and last traded at $3.9950. Approximately 457,874 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 943,276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.50.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $3.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.21. The company has a market capitalization of $354.76 million, a P/E ratio of -9.08 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $525.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.58 million. E.W. Scripps had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 9.82%. On average, research analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 2.4% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 182,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 4,342 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in E.W. Scripps by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 4,715 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in E.W. Scripps by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 21,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 4,730 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in E.W. Scripps by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 68,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 10,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the third quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

E.W. Scripps Company Profile

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.