John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Down 4% – What’s Next?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) shares dropped 4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $36.37 and last traded at $36.3770. Approximately 261,575 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 445,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WLY shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 4.5%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33 and a beta of 1.03.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $421.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.40 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 5.82%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.78%.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 25th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of John Wiley & Sons

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 519.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 1,595.7% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 780 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.