E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Buys $1,016,600.00 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Corina Granado acquired 260,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.91 per share, with a total value of $1,016,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 590,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,307,975.25. This trade represents a 78.72% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of SSP opened at $4.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $3.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.38. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1-year low of $1.36 and a 1-year high of $4.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $560.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $550.82 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.27% and a negative net margin of 4.69%. On average, equities research analysts predict that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,671,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,650,000 after purchasing an additional 60,729 shares in the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,442,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,744,000 after buying an additional 16,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in E.W. Scripps by 142.3% during the third 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. 67.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting E.W. Scripps

Here are the key news stories impacting E.W. Scripps this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Leadership and directors buying shares — CEO Adam Symson bought 26,910 shares (~$3.69 avg) and multiple directors (Charles Barmonde, Monica Holcomb) added positions, signaling management confidence and reducing available float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder materially increased stake — Corina S. Granado bought large blocks (260,000 shares at ~$3.91 on Mar 3 and ~70k shares at ~$4.17 on Mar 4), pushing her above the 10% threshold; that is a high-visibility vote of confidence and may tighten free float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Small strategic acquisition — Scripps agreed to buy WTVQ (Lexington, KY) for $15.8M, a targeted TV-market add that should modestly expand local ad reach and revenue potential. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data looks effectively zero but appears noisy/rounded — the report shows no meaningful short-interest and is unlikely to be a primary driver of price action. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain a concern — the Feb. 25 quarter missed EPS expectations (reported ($0.06) vs. $0.46 expected) and showed negative margins/ROE; sustained upside depends on margin recovery and execution. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.95.

About E.W. Scripps

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.