Brown Advisory Inc. Has $52.80 Million Position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 15.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,184,954 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 158,192 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 2.20% of John Wiley & Sons worth $52,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WLY. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at $34,916,000. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 347,047 shares of the company's stock worth $15,169,000 after purchasing an additional 219,349 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 261.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 129,423 shares of the company's stock worth $5,657,000 after purchasing an additional 93,661 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter worth $3,436,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter worth $3,201,000. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded John Wiley & Sons from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st.

John Wiley & Sons Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:WLY traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.60. The company had a trading volume of 472,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,546. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.50 and a 12 month high of $53.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.30.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is 92.81%.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, June 26th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Company 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.