Insider Selling: E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Sells $497,535.60 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares in the company, valued at $429,860.04. This represents a 53.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 Stock Performance

Shares of E.W. Scripps stock opened at $3.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.58. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1 year low of $2.02 and a 1 year high of $5.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.90. The firm has a market cap of $313.07 million, a PE ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on SSP shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SSP. Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its position 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 valued at $8,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169,640 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 1st quarter valued at $5,273,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in E.W. Scripps by 142.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,361,721 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 886.8% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,280,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 22.6% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.