Vanessa Sanchez Purchases 4,200 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Vanessa Sanchez bought 4,200 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.59 per share, for a total transaction of $19,278.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 11,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,728.68. The trade was a 61.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.

E.W. Scripps Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:SSP traded down $0.07 on Friday, hitting $4.00. 74,048 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 579,185. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.70 and a 200-day moving average of $3.41. The stock has a market cap of $355.38 million, a PE ratio of -2.13 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13. E.W. Scripps Company has a fifty-two week low of $1.90 and a fifty-two week high of $4.98.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in E.W. Scripps in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 67.1% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 14,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 5,992 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in E.W. Scripps in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SSP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark increased their target price on E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reiterated 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 report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target 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.