12,627 Shares in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY Purchased by Vident Advisory LLC

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons, purchasing 12,627 shares valued at approximately $563,000, reflecting interest from institutional investors in the company.
• John Wiley & Sons recently announced a dividend increase to $0.355 per share and initiated a $250 million stock repurchase plan, indicating a belief that its stock is undervalued.
• The company's stock has experienced a 3.9% increase recently, with analysts lowering their rating from "strong-buy" to "buy," while it reported earnings of $0.49 per share, slightly missing estimates.

Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,627 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 51.0% in the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 24,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 8,245 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 23.6% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,560,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 7.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 102,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 7,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday.

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 3.9%

John Wiley & Sons stock opened at $39.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.60. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 1.02. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $53.96.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $396.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $375.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 27.33%. The company's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is 92.81%.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, June 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Profile

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.

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