John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $53.96 and last traded at $53.76, with a volume of 72690 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $52.16.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 1.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.56 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $49.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.34.

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

John Wiley & Sons Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were given a $0.352 dividend. This represents a $1.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is currently -70.50%.

Insider Activity at John Wiley & Sons

In related news, EVP Danielle Mcmahan sold 2,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $114,532.38. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,602.98. This trade represents a 20.52 % 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. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 257.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 24,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $925,000 after buying an additional 17,504 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons during the second quarter worth about $1,240,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 113.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 19,017 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 407,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,273,000 after purchasing an additional 116,772 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

About John Wiley & Sons

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.