John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $53.96 and last traded at $53.76, with a volume of 72690 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $52.16.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -26.08 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $49.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.08). John Wiley & Sons had a negative net margin of 6.00% and a positive return on equity of 21.59%. The company had revenue of $403.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis.

John Wiley & Sons Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 8th were given a $0.352 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $1.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -70.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Danielle Mcmahan sold 2,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $114,532.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,978 shares in the company, valued at $443,602.98. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of John Wiley & Sons

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,326,000 after purchasing an additional 90,693 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in John Wiley & Sons by 7.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,688,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,454,000 after buying an additional 113,631 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 1.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,302,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,022,000 after buying an additional 24,215 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 1.6% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 987,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,196,000 after buying an additional 15,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 501,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,427,000 after acquiring an additional 81,968 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc operates as a research and education company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Research, Academic, and Talent. The company offers scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, as well as related content and services to learned societies, individual researchers, other professionals, and academic, corporate, and government libraries.