Manuel Granado Purchases 10,000 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Manuel Granado purchased 10,000 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.46 per share, with a total value of $44,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $89,200. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ SSP traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $4.01. The stock had a trading volume of 48,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 579,084. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.41. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52 week low of $1.90 and a 52 week high of $4.98. The company has a market capitalization of $356.35 million, a P/E ratio of -2.15 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $560.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $550.82 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 4.69% and a negative return on equity of 0.27%. Analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its position in E.W. Scripps by 151.7% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,599,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169,640 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 142.3% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 886.8% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 stake 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. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SSP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark upped their price target on E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. One 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.95.

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.