Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,972 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,901 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of John Wiley & Sons worth $9,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 686.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in John Wiley & Sons by 37.8% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 3.7%

NYSE WLY traded down $1.57 on Tuesday, reaching $40.85. The company had a trading volume of 697,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 404,456. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.50 and a 1-year high of $53.96. The company's fifty day moving average is $41.88 and its 200-day moving average is $42.28.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 27.42%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be paid a $0.355 dividend. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is 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.