First Pacific Advisors LP Purchases New Shares in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

First Pacific Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 39,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,744,000. First Pacific Advisors LP owned 0.07% of John Wiley & Sons at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WLY. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 686.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the company's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company's stock.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of John Wiley & Sons stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $39.47. 225,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 470,674. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.50 and a 12-month high of $53.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.77 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $41.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.07.

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

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This is an increase 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 3.60%. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.