John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $49.64, but opened at $51.50. John Wiley & Sons shares last traded at $51.9050, with a volume of 6,824 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings cut John Wiley & Sons from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Up 0.6%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.04. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $386.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.600-5.050 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 4.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be paid a $0.3575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is 37.83%.

Institutional Trading of John Wiley & Sons

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,829,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,711,000 after acquiring an additional 228,864 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 135.0% during the first quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 366,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,964,000 after purchasing an additional 210,580 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 0.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 196,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,722,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 38.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 103,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 28,931 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc is a global publishing and knowledge services company serving the research, education and professional markets. Founded in 1807 by Charles Wiley, the company has evolved from a New York City bookseller and publisher into an international provider of scholarly, educational and professional content.

Wiley publishes academic, scientific, technical and professional books, journals and reference works. It also provides digital learning products, online resources, courseware and platforms that support students, educators, researchers, institutions and working professionals.