Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Shares Down 5.1% – Here’s What Happened

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL)’s stock price traded down 5.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $36.48 and last traded at $36.35. 166,291 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 439,543 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research lowered Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Scholastic from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Scholastic Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.97 and its 200 day moving average is $40.30. The firm has a market cap of $682.54 million, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.01.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 posted $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scholastic

In other Scholastic news, Director Andres A. Alonso sold 2,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total value of $85,071.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,189 shares in the company, valued at $853,492.92. This represents a 9.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Iole Lucchese sold 289,624 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $11,515,450.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 289,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,515,410.48. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 294,986 shares of company stock worth $11,731,334. Insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scholastic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHL. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 2nd quarter valued at $120,724,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Scholastic by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,593,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,230,000 after purchasing an additional 59,017 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 879.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,159,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,880 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Scholastic by 4,326.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 871,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,094,000 after acquiring an additional 851,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Goldman & Co LP lifted its position in shares of Scholastic by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP now owns 797,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,641,000 after purchasing an additional 31,427 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

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.