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

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $35.50 and last traded at $35.56, with a volume of 126909 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.14.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $533.00 million during the quarter. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 5.82%. As a group, analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 7th were given a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 7th. John Wiley & Sons’s payout ratio is currently 79.78%.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLY. SG Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 71.1% in the third quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,685,000 after purchasing an additional 612,866 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in John Wiley & Sons by 323.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 528,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,569,000 after purchasing an additional 403,389 shares in the last quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,012,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in John Wiley & Sons by 192.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 594,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,547,000 after buying an additional 391,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,207,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,351,000 after buying an additional 315,329 shares during the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

John Wiley & Sons Company Profile

John Wiley & Sons, Inc engages in the provision of research and learning materials. It operates through the following segments: Research, Learning, and Held for Sale or Sold. The Research segment consists of research publishing and research solutions. The Learning segment includes academic and professional reporting lines and consists of publishing and related knowledge solutions.