Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 15,320 Shares of Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) by 12.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 139,779 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,320 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Scholastic were worth $5,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SCHL. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in Scholastic in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,164,000. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. purchased a new stake in Scholastic during the 4th quarter valued at $1,044,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 62.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 174,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,817,000 after purchasing an additional 66,890 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP increased its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 248.3% in the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 40,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after purchasing an additional 28,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salzhauer Michael purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the fourth quarter worth $524,000. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Scholastic from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research lowered Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Scholastic Trading Down 2.8%

NASDAQ:SCHL opened at $40.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $766.66 million, a PE ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.22. Scholastic Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.68 and a 12 month high of $48.07.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $517.06 million. Scholastic had a return on equity of 5.29% and a net margin of 3.58%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Scholastic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.19%.

Scholastic Profile

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is a global company dedicated to children’s publishing, education technology and distribution services. The company’s core business encompasses three primary segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Technology, and International operations. Through its publishing arm, Scholastic produces and distributes a wide range of children’s books, novels, nonfiction titles and classroom magazines under well-known imprints such as Scholastic Press, Graphix and Chicken House.