Molly Mccabe Sells 142,970 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total transaction of $497,535.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,860.04. This represents a 53.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of SSP traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.42. 377,457 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 706,318. The firm has a market cap of $313.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72. E.W. Scripps Company has a 12-month low of $2.02 and a 12-month high of $5.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.89.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 4.63% and a negative return on equity of 0.56%. Sell-side analysts forecast that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 151.7% in the third quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 3,599,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 142.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,318,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,721 shares during the period. Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth about $728,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,116,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 158,116 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps in the second quarter worth about $46,000. 67.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.95.

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.