Palisade Capital Management LP Sells 6,983 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Palisade Capital Management LP lowered its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 980,042 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,983 shares during the period. John Wiley & Sons makes up approximately 1.3% of Palisade Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Palisade Capital Management LP owned 1.82% of John Wiley & Sons worth $43,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in John Wiley & Sons by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 222,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,936,000 after buying an additional 5,901 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 11,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares in the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 84,617 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 7,220 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 565.3% during the 1st quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 67,021 shares of the company's stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management boosted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 38,155 shares of the company's stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 3,152 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company's stock.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

WLY traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $43.29. The company had a trading volume of 248,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 401,429. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.50 and a 1 year high of $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.35.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last announced 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 analysts' expectations of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 27.42%. John Wiley & Sons's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

John Wiley & Sons 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.