John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $52.47 and last traded at $52.06, with a volume of 10267 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.57.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.28 and a 200 day moving average of $44.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.57.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $403.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.40 million. John Wiley & Sons had a positive return on equity of 21.59% and a negative net margin of 6.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share.

John Wiley & Sons Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were issued a dividend of $0.352 per share. This represents a $1.41 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -70.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at John Wiley & Sons

In other news, EVP Danielle Mcmahan sold 2,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $114,532.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $443,602.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in John Wiley & Sons by 1.4% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 39.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 2.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 5.8% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 0.7% in the second quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 66,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

John Wiley & Sons Company Profile

John Wiley & Sons, Inc operates as a research and education company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Research, Academic, and Talent. The company offers scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, as well as related content and services to learned societies, individual researchers, other professionals, and academic, corporate, and government libraries.