Anthony Granado Buys 3,919 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Anthony Granado acquired 3,919 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.17 per share, with a total value of $16,342.23. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 24,579 shares in the company, valued at $102,494.43. This represents a 18.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

E.W. Scripps Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ SSP opened at $4.57 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.38. E.W. Scripps Company has a 52-week low of $1.36 and a 52-week high of $4.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a market cap of $405.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $560.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 research analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting E.W. Scripps

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of E.W. Scripps from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. 67.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.