John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its John Wiley & Sons stake by 38.6% in the first quarter to 103,974 shares, while other institutional investors also expanded their positions. Hedge funds and institutions now own 73.94% of WLY.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating. Zacks downgraded the stock to “Hold,” but Weiss Ratings upgraded it to “Buy.”
• Wiley reported quarterly EPS of $1.67, slightly above estimates, on revenue of $447.94 million. The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3575, equivalent to an annualized $1.43 payout and a 2.6% yield.

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 38.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,974 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 28,931 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.20% of John Wiley & Sons worth $3,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 127,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,911,000 after acquiring an additional 28,200 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 235,461 shares of the company's stock worth $7,212,000 after purchasing an additional 137,247 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,617,945 shares of the company's stock worth $80,188,000 after purchasing an additional 410,121 shares during the period. Brickwood Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter worth about $724,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 110.7% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 76,150 shares of the company's stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WLY opened at $54.48 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $48.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.78. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.38 and a fifty-two week high of $57.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 16th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $447.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $450.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 29.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.600-5.050 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were paid a $0.3575 dividend. This is a boost from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 7th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is 33.81%.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc is a global publishing and educational services company founded in 1807 and headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company operates through two primary segments: Research & Publishing and Education. Through these segments, Wiley produces a wide range of scholarly journals, books, reference works and digital products for academic, scientific, technical and medical markets, as well as professional development and higher education learning resources.

In its Research & Publishing segment, Wiley publishes thousands of peer-reviewed journals and maintains the Wiley Online Library, a leading platform for scientific and scholarly content.

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