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

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) by 23.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,375,524 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 258,908 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 1.55% of E.W. Scripps worth $5,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 5,992 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new position in E.W. Scripps during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Molly E. Mccabe sold 11,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total transaction of $36,976.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 266,493 shares in the company, valued at $876,761.97. The trade was a 4.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 326,675 shares of company stock valued at $1,117,887. Company insiders own 5.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark lowered their price target on E.W. Scripps from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded E.W. Scripps from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.95.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

SSP opened at $2.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.61. E.W. Scripps Company has a fifty-two week low of $2.02 and a fifty-two week high of $5.39. The firm has a market cap of $270.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.60 and a beta of 0.65.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $516.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.86 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 4.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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.