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

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

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 0.8 %

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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.01.

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

John Wiley & Sons Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were paid a $0.352 dividend. 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 payout ratio is -70.50%.

Insider Activity at John Wiley & Sons

In other news, EVP Danielle Mcmahan sold 2,318 shares of John Wiley & Sons stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $114,532.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $443,602.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLY. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 2.0% during the 2nd 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 lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 5.8% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 0.7% during the 2nd 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. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.