E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Director Purchases $156,400.00 in Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) Director Charles Barmonde acquired 40,000 shares of E.W. Scripps stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $3.91 per share, with a total value of $156,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 740,069 shares in the company, valued at $2,893,669.79. This represents a 5.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

E.W. Scripps Price Performance

E.W. Scripps stock opened at $4.11 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13. The company has a market cap of $364.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.20 and a beta of 0.54. E.W. Scripps Company has a 12 month low of $1.36 and a 12 month high of $4.98. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.36.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $560.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $550.82 million. E.W. Scripps had a negative net margin of 4.69% and a negative return on equity of 0.27%. Sell-side analysts forecast that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. D Orazio & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter worth about $27,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of E.W. Scripps in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on SSP shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, E.W. Scripps 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.