Elizabeth Scripps Buys 3,077 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Elizabeth Scripps purchased 3,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.64 per share, for a total transaction of $14,277.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,273.44. The trade was a 29.75% 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. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

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

• On Thursday, March 5th, Elizabeth Scripps acquired 2,324 shares of E.W. Scripps stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.43 per share, with a total value of $10,295.32.
• On Wednesday, March 4th, Elizabeth Scripps acquired 2,099 shares of E.W. Scripps stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.17 per share, for a total transaction of $8,752.83.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

NASDAQ SSP traded down $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $4.40. 1,133,842 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 575,071. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.53. E.W. Scripps Company has a 12-month low of $1.36 and a 12-month high of $4.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $3.69 and a 200-day moving average of $3.39.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.52). E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.27% and a negative net margin of 4.69%.The business had revenue of $560.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $550.82 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about E.W. Scripps

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

• Positive Sentiment: Large insider buying from the Scripps family and related major shareholders — several disclosed purchases on March 6–9 that increase insider ownership meaningfully (combined purchases ~296k shares). Notable moves: Margaret Scripps Klenzing bought 159,515 shares (27.4% increase in her stake) at $4.64; Eaton M. Scripps bought 41,017 shares (3.0% increase) at $4.64; Corina S. Granado bought 79,758 shares (11.1% increase) at $4.64; Anthony S. Granado and Elizabeth Scripps also added shares. Insider buys at or near the current trading level signal confidence from large owners and can be viewed as a bullish vote of confidence. Margaret Scripps Klenzing filing Eaton M. Scripps filing Corina S. Granado filing Anthony S. Granado filings Elizabeth Scripps filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest reports for March 9–10 show zero reported short positions and display erroneous “NaN” changes — data appears unreliable or not updated. With reported short interest effectively at 0 shares and a 0.0 days-to-cover metric, there is no clear short-seller pressure indicated by these filings; investors should treat these figures cautiously and watch for corrected data from exchanges.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 151.7% in the 3rd quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,599,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 142.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,318,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,721 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 886.8% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,280,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,092 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,722,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 82.5% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark raised their price target on E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average 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.