Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love The E.W. Scripps Company (SSP)?

The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. SSP investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with SSP holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many indicators investors can use to analyze stocks. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outperform the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the key action encompassing The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP).

How have hedgies been trading The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -12% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, holds the most valuable position in The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP). Blue Mountain Capital has a $51.2 million position in the stock, comprising 3.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jeffrey Gates of Gates Capital Management, with a $37.6 million position; 2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Dennis Leibowitz’s Act II Capital.

Because The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few hedgies that slashed their full holdings heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies we monitor, worth close to $1.1 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.9 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q2.

How have insiders been trading The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP). These stocks are Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG), The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT), and Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN). This group of stocks are in the publishing – newspapers industry and their market caps match SSP’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) is an important part of this process.

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