Corina Granado Purchases 260,000 Shares of E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) Stock

E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NASDAQ:SSP) major shareholder Corina Granado acquired 260,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.91 per share, with a total value of $1,016,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 590,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,307,975.25. This represents a 78.72% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. E.W. Scripps Company has a 1-year low of $1.36 and a 1-year high of $4.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.37. The company has a market cap of $405.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13.

E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that E.W. Scripps Company will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On E.W. Scripps

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SSP. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in E.W. Scripps by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 246,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $985,000 after buying an additional 3,472 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of E.W. Scripps by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 427,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 42,542 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in E.W. Scripps during the 4th quarter worth $75,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in E.W. Scripps by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 808,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,228,000 after acquiring an additional 97,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG acquired a new position in E.W. Scripps in the fourth quarter valued at about $319,000. 67.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on E.W. Scripps from $3.00 to $3.90 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark upped their price target 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. Zacks Research lowered E.W. Scripps from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of E.W. Scripps in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, E.W. Scripps currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $6.95.

More 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.

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.