227,000 Shares in Scholastic Corporation $SCHL Purchased by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Hennessy Advisors acquired 227,000 Scholastic shares during the second quarter, worth approximately $10.4 million and representing about 1.2% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 82.57% of SCHL.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Scholastic has a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $42 price target, with two Hold ratings and one Sell rating.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including EVP Iole Lucchese’s sale of 289,624 shares for approximately $11.5 million. Scholastic’s latest quarter beat EPS estimates but missed revenue expectations, reporting $2.19 EPS on $476.1 million in revenue.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 227,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,442,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 1.20% of Scholastic at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Scholastic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 458.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,593 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Scholastic in the second quarter valued at approximately $115,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Scholastic by 127.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,197 shares of the company's stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SCHL shares. Weiss Ratings cut Scholastic from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research cut Scholastic from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scholastic currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Insider Activity at Scholastic

In other news, Director Kaya Henderson sold 3,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.25, for a total transaction of $130,812.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,113 shares of the company's stock, valued at $286,298.25. This represents a 31.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Iole Lucchese sold 289,624 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $11,515,450.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 289,623 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,515,410.48. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 294,986 shares of company stock valued at $11,731,334. 12.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Scholastic Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ SCHL opened at $38.96 on Friday. Scholastic Corporation has a one year low of $22.68 and a one year high of $48.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $734.79 million, a P/E ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.34 and its 200-day moving average is $40.15.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.03. Scholastic had a return on equity of 5.29% and a net margin of 3.58%.The business had revenue of $476.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $517.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Scholastic

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.

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