Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) by 14.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,962 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,959 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 686.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 37.8% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised John Wiley & Sons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

Shares of WLY stock opened at $39.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.70 and a 200 day moving average of $41.69. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.50 and a 1 year high of $53.96.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $442.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons’s payout ratio is 92.81%.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc engages in the provision of research and learning materials. It operates through the following segments: Research, Learning, and Held for Sale or Sold. The Research segment consists of research publishing and research solutions. The Learning segment includes academic and professional reporting lines and consists of publishing and related knowledge solutions.