John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• John Wiley & Sons shares gapped higher, opening at $51.50 versus the prior close of $49.64 and last trading at $51.9050.
• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating after Weiss Ratings and Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while declaring a $0.3575 quarterly dividend, equal to a 2.8% annualized yield.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $49.64, but opened at $51.50. John Wiley & Sons shares last traded at $51.9050, with a volume of 6,824 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WLY shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of John Wiley & Sons from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 0.6%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.76.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $386.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.20 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 11.90%. The business's revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.600-5.050 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 4.80 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be issued a $0.3575 dividend. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is currently 37.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,829,676 shares of the company's stock worth $69,711,000 after buying an additional 228,864 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC boosted its position in John Wiley & Sons by 135.0% in the 1st quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 366,520 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,964,000 after buying an additional 210,580 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,722,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 1st quarter valued at $1,739,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 110.7% in the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 76,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,901,000 after buying an additional 40,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.94% of the company's stock.

John Wiley & Sons Company Profile

John Wiley & Sons, Inc is a global publishing and knowledge services company serving the research, education and professional markets. Founded in 1807 by Charles Wiley, the company has evolved from a New York City bookseller and publisher into an international provider of scholarly, educational and professional content.

Wiley publishes academic, scientific, technical and professional books, journals and reference works. It also provides digital learning products, online resources, courseware and platforms that support students, educators, researchers, institutions and working professionals.

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