Royce & Associates LP Sells 16,451 Shares of Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its position in Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) by 66.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,451 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Scholastic were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Scholastic by 458.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Scholastic by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Scholastic in the fourth quarter worth about $116,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Scholastic in the third quarter worth about $137,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Scholastic by 127.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. 82.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHL has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research cut Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

Scholastic Price Performance

SCHL stock opened at $40.50 on Monday. Scholastic Corporation has a twelve month low of $16.81 and a twelve month high of $43.39. The stock has a market cap of $880.47 million, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.55.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.22. The company had revenue of $329.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.53 million. Scholastic had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 3.88%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.26%.

Scholastic announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 23% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.