Insider Buying: E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Acquires $44,600.00 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Manuel Granado acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.46 per share, for a total transaction of $44,600.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,200. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of SSP opened at $3.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market cap of $352.54 million, a PE ratio of -2.12 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.41. E.W. Scripps Company has a twelve month low of $1.90 and a twelve month high of $4.98.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted 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 business had revenue of $560.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $550.82 million. As a group, research analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SSP. 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. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, March 6th. Benchmark boosted their price target on E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research downgraded E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, E.W. Scripps currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $6.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new position in E.W. Scripps in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in E.W. Scripps during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 67.1% during the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 14,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 5,992 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.