E.W. Scripps Company (The) $SSP Shares Acquired by GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. increased its position in shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) by 233.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 241,500 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 169,050 shares during the period. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.’s holdings in E.W. Scripps were worth $898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 246,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 3,472 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 182,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 4,342 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 31,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 4,819 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 5,020 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 24,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 5,101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

E.W. Scripps Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of E.W. Scripps stock opened at $2.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.62. 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 has a market cap of $273.70 million, a PE ratio of -1.62 and a beta of 0.65.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.32. The business had revenue of $516.87 million for 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, research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, May 29th. 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total transaction of $497,535.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,860.04. The trade was a 53.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887. Company insiders own 5.24% 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.