John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) Shares Sold by Clark Estates Inc. NY

Key Points

• Clark Estates Inc. NY reduced its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 27.6%, selling 21,861 shares and maintaining approximately 0.5% of its total holdings in the company.
• John Wiley & Sons recently upgraded its dividend to $0.355 per share, reflecting a 3.58% yield and an overall annualized dividend of $1.42.
• Wall Street Zen upgraded John Wiley & Sons to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increased confidence in the company's stock performance prospects.

Clark Estates Inc. NY trimmed its holdings in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 27.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,252 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,861 shares during the quarter. John Wiley & Sons accounts for approximately 0.5% of Clark Estates Inc. NY's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Clark Estates Inc. NY owned 0.11% of John Wiley & Sons worth $2,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,318,812 shares of the company's stock worth $232,485,000 after purchasing an additional 21,748 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,184,954 shares of the company's stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 158,192 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,027,831 shares of the company's stock worth $44,926,000 after purchasing an additional 17,583 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 917,596 shares of the company's stock worth $40,117,000 after purchasing an additional 35,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,916,000. 73.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of 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 1.0%

John Wiley & Sons stock traded down $0.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.21. The company had a trading volume of 535,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,633. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.50 and a 1-year 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97 and a beta of 0.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 27.42%. The firm had revenue of $442.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were paid a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is presently 92.81%.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.