Anthony Granado Purchases 5,742 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Anthony Granado purchased 5,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.64 per share, for a total transaction of $26,642.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 34,660 shares in the company, valued at $160,822.40. The trade was a 19.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

SSP stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.40. 1,133,842 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 575,071. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1-year low of $1.36 and a 1-year high of $4.98. The company has a market cap of $390.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.53.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $560.26 million during 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Key E.W. Scripps News

Here are the key news stories impacting E.W. Scripps this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large insider buying from the Scripps family and related major shareholders — several disclosed purchases on March 6–9 that increase insider ownership meaningfully (combined purchases ~296k shares). Notable moves: Margaret Scripps Klenzing bought 159,515 shares (27.4% increase in her stake) at $4.64; Eaton M. Scripps bought 41,017 shares (3.0% increase) at $4.64; Corina S. Granado bought 79,758 shares (11.1% increase) at $4.64; Anthony S. Granado and Elizabeth Scripps also added shares. Insider buys at or near the current trading level signal confidence from large owners and can be viewed as a bullish vote of confidence. Margaret Scripps Klenzing filing Eaton M. Scripps filing Corina S. Granado filing Anthony S. Granado filings Elizabeth Scripps filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest reports for March 9–10 show zero reported short positions and display erroneous “NaN” changes — data appears unreliable or not updated. With reported short interest effectively at 0 shares and a 0.0 days-to-cover metric, there is no clear short-seller pressure indicated by these filings; investors should treat these figures cautiously and watch for corrected data from exchanges.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 8.6% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 316,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after acquiring an additional 25,070 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 1st quarter worth about $117,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in E.W. Scripps by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,231,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 74,435 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in E.W. Scripps by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,516,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,459,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 89,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 28,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

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.