Hedge Funds Are Dumping The E.W. Scripps Company (SSP)

Because The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $5.1 million in stock, and Marc Majzner’s Clearline Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $4.8 million worth of SSP shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds last quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) but similarly valued. We will take a look at El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE), Colliers International Group Inc (NASDAQ:CIGI), Eaton Vance Ltd Duration Income Fund (NYSEMKT:EVV), and Interface, Inc. (NASDAQ:TILE). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble SSP’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $104 million. That figure was $161 million in SSP’s case, a positive sign. Interface, Inc. (NASDAQ:TILE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Eaton Vance Ltd Duration Income Fund (NYSEMKT:EVV) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard TILE might be a better candidate to consider a long position.