E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Acquires $291,799.92 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Corina Granado purchased 69,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.17 per share, with a total value of $291,799.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 660,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,753,246.67. This trade represents a 11.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

NASDAQ SSP opened at $4.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1 year low of $1.36 and a 1 year high of $4.98. The company has a market cap of $405.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.38.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS 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 firm had revenue of $560.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $550.82 million. On average, analysts predict that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,671,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,650,000 after purchasing an additional 60,729 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $8,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,442,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,744,000 after buying an additional 16,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in E.W. Scripps by 142.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,318,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,705,000 after buying an additional 1,361,721 shares during the period. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SSP shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of 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. Zacks Research cut shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.95.

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.

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.