E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Elizabeth Scripps Purchases 2,324 Shares of Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Elizabeth Scripps bought 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.43 per share, for a total transaction of $10,295.32. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,344 shares in the company, valued at $45,823.92. This represents a 28.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Elizabeth Scripps also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Elizabeth Scripps bought 2,099 shares of E.W. Scripps stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.17 per share, with a total value of $8,752.83.

E.W. Scripps Trading Up 3.6%

SSP traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $4.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,401,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 539,685. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.82 million, a P/E ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54. E.W. Scripps Company has a twelve month low of $1.36 and a twelve month high of $4.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $560.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $550.82 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.27% and a negative net margin of 4.69%. Analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 316,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 25,070 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 6.4% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,231,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 74,435 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 0.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,516,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,459,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. increased its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 47.5% in the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 89,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 28,858 shares during the period. 67.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about E.W. Scripps

Here are the key news stories impacting E.W. Scripps this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Leadership and directors buying shares — CEO Adam Symson bought 26,910 shares (~$3.69 avg) and multiple directors (Charles Barmonde, Monica Holcomb) added positions, signaling management confidence and reducing available float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder materially increased stake — Corina S. Granado bought large blocks (260,000 shares at ~$3.91 on Mar 3 and ~70k shares at ~$4.17 on Mar 4), pushing her above the 10% threshold; that is a high-visibility vote of confidence and may tighten free float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Small strategic acquisition — Scripps agreed to buy WTVQ (Lexington, KY) for $15.8M, a targeted TV-market add that should modestly expand local ad reach and revenue potential. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data looks effectively zero but appears noisy/rounded — the report shows no meaningful short-interest and is unlikely to be a primary driver of price action. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain a concern — the Feb. 25 quarter missed EPS expectations (reported ($0.06) vs. $0.46 expected) and showed negative margins/ROE; sustained upside depends on margin recovery and execution. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SSP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.95.

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.