Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 62,447 Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 7.8%, selling 62,447 shares, and now holds approximately 1.37% of the company valued at $32.81 million.
• John Wiley & Sons has initiated a $250 million share buyback plan, indicating management's belief that the stock is currently undervalued.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.355 per share, up from $0.35, with a dividend yield of 3.4% and a payout ratio of 92.81%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 736,356 shares of the company's stock after selling 62,447 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.37% of John Wiley & Sons worth $32,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 15.4% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,184,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 158,192 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,027,831 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,926,000 after purchasing an additional 17,583 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 valued at $19,244,000 after purchasing an additional 43,275 shares in the last quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 347,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,169,000 after purchasing an additional 219,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 0.5% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 299,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of WLY opened at $41.2690 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97 and a beta of 0.96. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a one year low of $36.50 and a one year high of $53.96. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $40.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%.The firm had revenue of $442.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a $0.355 dividend. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About John Wiley & Sons

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.

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