Benchmark Lowers E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Price Target to $8.00

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Benchmark from $10.00 to $8.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 100.75% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on SSP. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, E.W. Scripps has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

E.W. Scripps stock traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $3.99. The company had a trading volume of 753,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,265. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. E.W. Scripps has a 12-month low of $2.02 and a 12-month high of $5.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.17 and its 200-day moving average is $3.81. The company has a market capitalization of $354.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.17 and a beta of 0.72.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.32. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.50% and a negative net margin of 4.63%.The business had revenue of $516.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. Equities research analysts predict that E.W. Scripps will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other E.W. Scripps news, major shareholder Corina S. Granado bought 260,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $3.91 per share, for a total transaction of $1,016,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 590,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,307,975.25. This represents a 78.72% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Margaret Scripps Klenzing bought 159,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.64 per share, for a total transaction of $740,149.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 741,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,442,777.92. This represents a 27.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,332,085 shares of company stock worth $5,733,766. Corporate insiders own 5.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,729,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 57,441 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 5,020 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in E.W. Scripps in the 1st quarter valued at $5,273,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 104,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 338,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 8,606 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.