E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Molly Mccabe Sells 60,182 Shares

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 60,182 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.35, for a total value of $201,609.70. Following the sale, the insider owned 266,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $892,751.55. This represents a 18.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of E.W. Scripps stock opened at $3.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $313.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52-week low of $2.02 and a 52-week high of $5.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.89.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 4.63%. On average, equities research analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their target price on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in 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 worth $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 57,441 shares during the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $8,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in 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 worth $9,902,000 after buying an additional 219,839 shares during the period. 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.

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.