Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 72,404 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 76.0%, selling 72,404 shares during the first quarter and now holds 22,829 shares valued at approximately $1,017,000.
• John Wiley & Sons increased its quarterly dividend from $0.35 to $0.355 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.42 and a yield of 3.4%.
• The company reported $396.8 million in revenue for the quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, despite a 1.7% decline compared to the same quarter last year.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 76.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,829 shares of the company's stock after selling 72,404 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 37.8% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the first quarter valued at about $208,000. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

John Wiley & Sons Price Performance

Shares of WLY traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.28. The stock had a trading volume of 613,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,236. The company's fifty day moving average is $40.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.10 and a 52 week high of $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19 and a beta of 1.02.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 5.82%.The firm had revenue of $396.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $375.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

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

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is currently 79.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 6th.

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.