Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases 8,245 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 51.0%, now holding 24,422 shares valued at $1,088,000.
• John Wiley & Sons has authorized a stock buyback program of up to $250 million, reflecting management's belief that the shares are undervalued.
• The company declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.355, representing an annual yield of 3.5% and a dividend payout ratio of 92.81%.

Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 51.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,422 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,245 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC's holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $1,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 35.8% during the first 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 222,972 shares of the company's stock worth $9,936,000 after acquiring an additional 5,901 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons during the first quarter worth about $880,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 440,272 shares of the company's stock worth $19,244,000 after acquiring an additional 43,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 33,174 shares of the company's stock worth $1,450,000 after acquiring an additional 11,839 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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 Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE WLY traded down $0.00 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $39.78. 397,765 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 453,338. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.68 and its 200-day moving average is $41.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 1.02. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.50 and a twelve month high of $53.96.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $442.58 million during 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 business's revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.81%.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.