Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock Price

Key Points

• Wells Fargo lowered E.W. Scripps’ price target from $4.70 to $3.80 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating; the new target implies approximately 14% upside from the reported $3.33 share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but averages to a “Hold” rating, with one Buy, three Holds and one Sell. The consensus price target is $5.90.
• E.W. Scripps beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting a loss of $0.34 per share versus the expected $0.53 loss, but revenue of $490.4 million fell short of the $511.65 million consensus estimate.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $4.70 to $3.80 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.11% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SSP. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded E.W. Scripps to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $5.90.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SSP opened at $3.33 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $3.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $304.83 million, a P/E ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.65. E.W. Scripps has a 12 month low of $2.02 and a 12 month high of $5.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.77, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.65 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 3.84% and a negative net margin of 58.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that E.W. Scripps will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other E.W. Scripps news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total transaction of $497,535.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,523 shares in the company, valued at $429,860.04. This trade represents a 53.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the first quarter worth $5,273,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 886.8% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,280,898 shares of the company's stock worth $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,092 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,722,317 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 174.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 582,224 shares of the company's stock worth $2,166,000 after purchasing an additional 370,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 815,751 shares of the company's stock worth $3,255,000 after purchasing an additional 368,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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