Molly Mccabe Sells 112,284 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Molly Mccabe sold 112,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.40, for a total value of $381,765.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 11,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,212.60. This trade represents a 90.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

E.W. Scripps stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 377,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,318. 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 quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.07 million, a PE ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.72.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 4.63%.The company had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.86 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SSP. Benchmark dropped their price target on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter valued at $27,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.