Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 219,839 Shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) $SSP

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,661,878 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 219,839 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in E.W. Scripps were worth $9,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 316,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 25,070 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in E.W. Scripps in the 1st quarter worth approximately $117,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of E.W. Scripps by 0.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,516,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,459,000 after buying an additional 10,957 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 111.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 26,090 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 14.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 152,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 19,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at E.W. Scripps

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total value of $497,535.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 123,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,860.04. The trade was a 53.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,675 shares of company stock worth $1,117,887. 5.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SSP. Benchmark dropped 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 research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $2.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.12 and a 200-day moving average of $3.62. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52 week low of $2.02 and a 52 week high of $5.39. The company has a market capitalization of $273.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.62 and a beta of 0.65.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.32. The business had revenue of $516.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $516.86 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 4.63% and a negative return on equity of 0.56%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

E.W. Scripps 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.