Molly Mccabe Sells 11,239 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 11,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total transaction of $36,976.31. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 266,493 shares in the company, valued at $876,761.97. The trade was a 4.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Trading Down 2.0%

SSP opened at $3.42 on Friday. E.W. Scripps Company has a fifty-two week low of $2.02 and a fifty-two week high of $5.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.89.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SSP. Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted 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 last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the 1st quarter valued at $5,273,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 142.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,318,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,721 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 886.8% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,280,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 871,159 shares during the last quarter. 67.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SSP. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.