E.W. Scripps Company (The) $SSP Shares Purchased by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,116,616 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 158,116 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in E.W. Scripps were worth $4,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SSP. D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth $27,000. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of E.W. Scripps by 67.1% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 14,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 5,992 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at E.W. Scripps

In other news, major shareholder Ellen B. Granado purchased 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.46 per share, with a total value of $80,280.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,880. This trade represents a 180.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Anthony S. Granado acquired 6,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.43 per share, for a total transaction of $30,354.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 41,512 shares in the company, valued at $183,898.16. This represents a 19.77% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,333,347 shares of company stock worth $5,738,221. 5.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SSP. 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 research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark decreased their price target on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday, March 6th. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, E.W. Scripps currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Trading Up 5.1%

NASDAQ:SSP opened at $3.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1-year low of $2.02 and a 1-year high of $5.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $319.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.89 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.90.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its quarterly 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. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 4.63%.The business had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.86 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that E.W. Scripps Company will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

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.