Molly Mccabe Sells 142,970 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total value of $497,535.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,860.04. This trade represents a 53.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

Shares of E.W. Scripps stock opened at $3.42 on Friday. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52 week low of $2.02 and a 52 week high of $5.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.89. The firm has a market cap of $313.07 million, a PE ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.32. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 4.63%.The business had revenue of $516.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. Equities analysts forecast that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark decreased their target price on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 871,159 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,729,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after buying an additional 57,441 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $8,864,000 after buying an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,661,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,902,000 after buying an additional 219,839 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,705,000 after buying an additional 1,361,721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.