Legal & General Group Plc Makes New Investment in Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 38,576 Scholastic shares worth approximately $1.77 million, giving it a 0.20% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 82.57% of SCHL.
• Analyst sentiment is cautious: Zacks Research downgraded the stock to “strong sell,” while the consensus rating is “Reduce” with a $42 target price.
• Scholastic reported quarterly EPS of $2.19, slightly above expectations, but revenue of $476.1 million fell short of the $517.1 million consensus estimate. Insiders have sold nearly $11.7 million of stock over the past three months.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 38,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,774,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.20% of Scholastic as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHL. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Scholastic by 160.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 157,436 shares of the company's stock worth $2,972,000 after acquiring an additional 96,998 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 4.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,851 shares of the company's stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Scholastic by 4.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 164,178 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Scholastic by 457.8% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 81,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 66,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Scholastic by 16.8% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 23,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SCHL. Zacks Research cut shares of Scholastic from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Scholastic from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their target price on Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Andres A. Alonso sold 2,112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total transaction of $85,071.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $853,492.92. This trade represents a 9.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kaya Henderson sold 3,250 shares of Scholastic stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.25, for a total value of $130,812.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,298.25. This represents a 31.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 294,986 shares of company stock valued at $11,731,334 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.77% of the company's stock.

Scholastic Price Performance

Shares of SCHL opened at $35.66 on Monday. Scholastic Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.68 and a 1 year high of $48.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.31. The firm has a market cap of $672.55 million, a P/E ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.01.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $517.06 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 5.29%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Profile

Scholastic Corporation NASDAQ: SCHL is a global company dedicated to children's publishing, education technology and distribution services. The company's core business encompasses three primary segments: Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Technology, and International operations. Through its publishing arm, Scholastic produces and distributes a wide range of children's books, novels, nonfiction titles and classroom magazines under well-known imprints such as Scholastic Press, Graphix and Chicken House.

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