Grandfield & Dodd LLC Sells 11,511 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC cut its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 60.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,376 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,511 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC's holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLY. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 686.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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. raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 37.8% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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 Stock Performance

WLY stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.92. 232,398 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,073. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.50 and a twelve month high of $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.24.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%. The firm's revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, June 26th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.81%.

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.