John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Upgraded by Zacks Research to "Strong-Buy" Rating

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded John Wiley & Sons to a Strong-Buy from Hold, while overall analyst coverage remains mixed with an average rating of "Buy" and Weiss Ratings reaffirming a Hold.
• Wiley beat quarterly expectations with $0.97 EPS vs. $0.86 expected and $410.0M revenue vs. $391.0M, and issued FY2026 guidance of 3.90–4.35 EPS (analysts forecast ~3.42 for the current year).
• Shares trade around $41.56 with a market cap of $2.13B and a PE of 14.48, and institutional investors own roughly 73.94% of the company amid several large hedge fund position increases.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, John Wiley & Sons currently has an average rating of "Buy".

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

Shares of WLY stock opened at $41.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. John Wiley & Sons has a 12 month low of $28.38 and a 12 month high of $45.64.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $410.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 28.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. Analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLY. SG Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474,796 shares of the company's stock worth $59,685,000 after buying an additional 612,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter worth about $13,526,000. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,617,945 shares of the company's stock worth $80,188,000 after buying an additional 410,121 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 323.5% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 528,088 shares of the company's stock worth $23,569,000 after buying an additional 403,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter worth about $12,273,000. 73.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc is a global publishing and educational services company founded in 1807 and headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company operates through two primary segments: Research & Publishing and Education. Through these segments, Wiley produces a wide range of scholarly journals, books, reference works and digital products for academic, scientific, technical and medical markets, as well as professional development and higher education learning resources.

In its Research & Publishing segment, Wiley publishes thousands of peer-reviewed journals and maintains the Wiley Online Library, a leading platform for scientific and scholarly content.

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