John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $32.92 and last traded at $33.3250, with a volume of 511158 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WLY. Wall Street Zen downgraded John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, John Wiley & Sons has an average rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.93.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The business had revenue of $533.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th were given a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. John Wiley & Sons’s payout ratio is presently 79.78%.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 25th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its position in John Wiley & Sons by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,207,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,351,000 after acquiring an additional 315,329 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,714,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,515,000 after purchasing an additional 34,782 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,573,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,673,000 after buying an additional 19,067 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,557,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,041,000 after buying an additional 55,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 71.1% in the third quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,685,000 after acquiring an additional 612,866 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc engages in the provision of research and learning materials. It operates through the following segments: Research, Learning, and Held for Sale or Sold. The Research segment consists of research publishing and research solutions. The Learning segment includes academic and professional reporting lines and consists of publishing and related knowledge solutions.