John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $47.65, but opened at $44.05. John Wiley & Sons shares last traded at $41.72, with a volume of 36,654 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.08). John Wiley & Sons had a negative net margin of 10.69% and a positive return on equity of 18.82%. The firm had revenue of $403.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. John Wiley & Sons’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.3525 per share. This represents a $1.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -38.74%.

Institutional Trading of John Wiley & Sons

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WLY. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in John Wiley & Sons by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 4th quarter worth approximately $289,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 630,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,017,000 after buying an additional 15,025 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 14,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its position in John Wiley & Sons by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 96,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,000 after buying an additional 9,206 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.87 and a beta of 0.86.

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.