Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 5,933 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 24.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,704 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,933 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WLY. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 686.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% in the 1st 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. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded 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

Shares of WLY traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.29. 248,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,429. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.50 and a twelve month high of $53.96. The company has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $42.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.35.

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 firm had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 27.42%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio is 92.16%.

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.