Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on SCHL. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Scholastic from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Scholastic Stock Performance

NASDAQ SCHL opened at $39.24 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.93. Scholastic has a one year low of $16.78 and a one year high of $43.39. The company has a market cap of $853.08 million, a P/E ratio of 15.82 and a beta of 1.04.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.22. Scholastic had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 3.88%.The business had revenue of $329.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.53 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Scholastic will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 23% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scholastic

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 139,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,460,000 after purchasing an additional 15,320 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Scholastic during the 1st quarter valued at about $221,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Scholastic by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 23,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Scholastic during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,164,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Scholastic by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 44,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 10,795 shares during the period. 82.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scholastic Company 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.