Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL) Short Interest Up 22.4% in October

Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 733,500 shares, an increase of 22.4% from the October 15th total of 599,200 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 195,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Scholastic by 3.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Scholastic by 6.4% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in Scholastic by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Scholastic by 13.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Scholastic by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. 82.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th.

Scholastic Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SCHL traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.67. 178,521 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 222,636. The firm has a market capitalization of $694.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.05 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Scholastic has a twelve month low of $23.69 and a twelve month high of $41.79.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The company reported ($2.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.48) by $0.35. The business had revenue of $237.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $233.49 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 1.49% and a return on equity of 4.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.20) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Scholastic will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 142.86%.

Scholastic Company Profile

Scholastic Corporation publishes and distributes children’s books worldwide. It operates in three segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, and International. The Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment engages in publication and distribution of children’s print, digital, and audio books, as well as media and interactive products through its school reading events and trade channel; and operation of school-based book clubs and book fairs in the United States.