Share Repurchase Plan Approved by John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY)

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, June 26th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:WLY traded up $1.79 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $45.13. The company had a trading volume of 767,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,319. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. John Wiley & Sons has a 12 month low of $36.50 and a 12 month high of $53.96.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $442.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.42% and a net margin of 5.02%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.16%.

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.

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