Insider Buying: E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Director Acquires $29,325.00 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) Director Monica Holcomb bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $3.91 per share, with a total value of $29,325.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 24,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,859.55. This represents a 45.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

Shares of SSP opened at $4.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $405.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52-week low of $1.36 and a 52-week high of $4.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $3.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.65.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $560.26 million for 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, equities analysts anticipate that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Key E.W. Scripps News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Leadership and directors buying shares — CEO Adam Symson bought 26,910 shares (~$3.69 avg) and multiple directors (Charles Barmonde, Monica Holcomb) added positions, signaling management confidence and reducing available float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Major shareholder materially increased stake — Corina S. Granado bought large blocks (260,000 shares at ~$3.91 on Mar 3 and ~70k shares at ~$4.17 on Mar 4), pushing her above the 10% threshold; that is a high-visibility vote of confidence and may tighten free float. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Small strategic acquisition — Scripps agreed to buy WTVQ (Lexington, KY) for $15.8M, a targeted TV-market add that should modestly expand local ad reach and revenue potential. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data looks effectively zero but appears noisy/rounded — the report shows no meaningful short-interest and is unlikely to be a primary driver of price action. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain a concern — the Feb. 25 quarter missed EPS expectations (reported ($0.06) vs. $0.46 expected) and showed negative margins/ROE; sustained upside depends on margin recovery and execution. Read More.

Institutional Trading of E.W. Scripps

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 47.2% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 351,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 112,608 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 142.3% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,318,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,705,000 after buying an additional 1,361,721 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 6.4% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,231,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,618,000 after buying an additional 74,435 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 28,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in E.W. Scripps in the 3rd quarter valued at $728,000. 67.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.