Bank of America Corp DE Sells 34,405 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY

Key Points

• Bank of America reduced its John Wiley & Sons stake by 18.7%, selling 34,405 shares and retaining 149,444 shares valued at approximately $5.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 73.94% of the company.
• John Wiley & Sons exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.67 in EPS versus a $1.65 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $447.94 million and increased 1.2% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3575 per share, representing a $1.43 annualized payout and a 2.6% yield. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with one Buy and one Hold rating.

Bank of America Corp DE trimmed its stake in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 18.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,444 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,405 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.29% of John Wiley & Sons worth $5,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at $13,526,000. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,617,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,188,000 after purchasing an additional 410,121 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 323.5% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 528,088 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,569,000 after purchasing an additional 403,389 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at $12,273,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 192.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 594,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,547,000 after buying an additional 391,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company's stock.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

Shares of John Wiley & Sons stock opened at $54.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.78. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.38 and a 1-year high of $57.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 16th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $447.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $450.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 29.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.600-5.050 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th were given a $0.3575 dividend. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 7th. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is 33.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on WLY shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded John Wiley & Sons from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, John Wiley & Sons presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

John Wiley & Sons Profile

John Wiley & Sons, Inc is a global publishing and educational services company founded in 1807 and headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company operates through two primary segments: Research & Publishing and Education. Through these segments, Wiley produces a wide range of scholarly journals, books, reference works and digital products for academic, scientific, technical and medical markets, as well as professional development and higher education learning resources.

In its Research & Publishing segment, Wiley publishes thousands of peer-reviewed journals and maintains the Wiley Online Library, a leading platform for scientific and scholarly content.

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