Azarias Capital Management L.P. Sells 105,422 Shares of Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Key Points

• Azarias Capital sold 105,422 shares, reducing its stake in Scholastic by 63.1% to 61,522 shares (about 0.24% of the company, valued at $1,823,000) and making SCHL its 23rd-largest holding.
• The board authorized a $200 million share repurchase program (up to ~23% of shares) and declared a quarterly $0.20 dividend (annualized $0.80, ~2.0% yield), signaling management confidence in the stock.
• Analysts are turning more positive: recent upgrades have pushed Scholastic to a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a $40.00 price target, and the company’s most recent quarter beat EPS estimates while missing revenue slightly.

Azarias Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL - Free Report) by 63.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,522 shares of the company's stock after selling 105,422 shares during the period. Scholastic comprises approximately 0.8% of Azarias Capital Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Azarias Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.24% of Scholastic worth $1,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $181,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $116,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Scholastic by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,690 shares of the company's stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Scholastic by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,289 shares of the company's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on SCHL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Scholastic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Scholastic from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Scholastic from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scholastic currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Scholastic Price Performance

NASDAQ:SCHL opened at $39.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $860.33 million, a P/E ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 1.08. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $35.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.76. Scholastic Corporation has a 1 year low of $15.77 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $329.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $331.53 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 2.47%. On average, analysts expect that Scholastic Corporation will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Scholastic's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

Scholastic declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 23% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Scholastic Profile

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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