Clark Estates Inc. NY Has $2.55 Million Stock Holdings in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

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 cut its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 27.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,252 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,861 shares during the period. John Wiley & Sons makes up about 0.5% of Clark Estates Inc. NY's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Clark Estates Inc. NY owned 0.11% of John Wiley & Sons worth $2,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WLY. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter valued at $361,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in John Wiley & Sons by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 222,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,936,000 after buying an additional 5,901 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in John Wiley & Sons by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,318,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $232,485,000 after buying an additional 21,748 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in John Wiley & Sons during the first quarter valued at $880,000. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE WLY traded down $0.39 on Friday, reaching $38.21. The stock had a trading volume of 535,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,633. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.50 and a 1 year high of $53.96. The company has a market capitalization 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.10. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%. The firm had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

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

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

John Wiley & Sons 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.