Insider Buying: E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Major Shareholder Acquires $583,595.67 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Margaret Scripps Klenzing acquired 139,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.17 per share, with a total value of $583,595.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,926,243.93. This represents a 43.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Margaret Scripps Klenzing also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 5th, Margaret Scripps Klenzing bought 120,534 shares of E.W. Scripps stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.43 per share, for a total transaction of $533,965.62.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

E.W. Scripps stock opened at $4.57 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.83 million, a P/E ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $3.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1 year low of $1.36 and a 1 year high of $4.98.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $560.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $550.82 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.27% and a negative net margin of 4.69%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key E.W. Scripps News

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,722,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,842,000 after buying an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 60,729 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $8,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169,640 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,442,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,744,000 after acquiring an additional 16,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position 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. 67.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.