Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 328,780 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 29.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 787,639 shares of the company's stock after selling 328,780 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 1.46% of John Wiley & Sons worth $35,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WLY. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 191.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,121 shares of the company's stock worth $904,000 after acquiring an additional 13,863 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,053,035 shares of the company's stock worth $46,028,000 after acquiring an additional 25,667 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 86.0% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,566 shares of the company's stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 3,961 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter worth $707,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 95,539 shares of the company's stock worth $4,176,000 after acquiring an additional 12,115 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

John Wiley & Sons Price Performance

WLY traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.26. 426,767 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 406,356. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66 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. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a one year low of $36.50 and a one year high of $53.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.19.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $442.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $435.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, June 26th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is currently 92.81%.

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.