1,417,439 Shares in E.W. Scripps Company (The) $SSP Bought by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,417,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 886.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 82.5% during 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. Finally, Teton Advisors LLC bought a new position in E.W. Scripps during the third quarter worth about $728,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

E.W. Scripps Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $3.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $285.60 million, a P/E ratio of -1.69 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1-year low of $2.02 and a 1-year high of $5.39.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.86 million. Research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 11,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total value of $36,976.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 266,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,761.97. This represents a 4.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.24% 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.