Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $27.35 and traded as high as $34.76. Scholastic shares last traded at $34.40, with a volume of 445,913 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SCHL. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Scholastic in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Scholastic from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.00.

Scholastic Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.43. The company has a market capitalization of $847.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -166.55 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $551.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $556.72 million. Scholastic had a positive return on equity of 2.66% and a negative net margin of 0.21%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Scholastic Corporation will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Scholastic’s payout ratio is -400.00%.

Institutional Trading of Scholastic

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Scholastic by 879.3% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,159,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,880 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,288,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Scholastic by 286.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 184,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,873,000 after acquiring an additional 136,903 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Scholastic by 160.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 157,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,972,000 after acquiring an additional 96,998 shares during the period. Finally, EVR Research LP increased its holdings in Scholastic by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. EVR Research LP now owns 190,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,202,000 after acquiring an additional 70,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

About Scholastic

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is a global company dedicated to children’s publishing, education technology and distribution services. The company’s core business encompasses three primary segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Technology, and International operations. Through its publishing arm, Scholastic produces and distributes a wide range of children’s books, novels, nonfiction titles and classroom magazines under well-known imprints such as Scholastic Press, Graphix and Chicken House.