E.W. Scripps Company (The) $SSP Stock Position Increased by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in shares of E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) by 23.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,375,524 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 258,908 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in E.W. Scripps were worth $5,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SSP. Benchmark lowered their target price on 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 reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Trading Down 1.0%

E.W. Scripps stock opened at $2.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.61. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $270.96 million, a PE ratio of -1.60 and a beta of 0.65. E.W. Scripps Company has a 12-month low of $2.02 and a 12-month high of $5.39.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $516.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at E.W. Scripps

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 142,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 123,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,860.04. This trade represents a 53.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 326,675 shares of company stock worth $1,117,887. Company insiders own 5.24% of the company’s stock.

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.