John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 931,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,066 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in John Wiley & Sons were worth $41,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 35.3% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 218,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,761,000 after purchasing an additional 57,027 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 2.5% during the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the second quarter worth $31,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 14.6% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 9,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 13.5% during the second quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 76,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,396,000 after purchasing an additional 9,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WLY shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Price Performance

Shares of WLY opened at $37.06 on Friday. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.94 and a 1-year high of $53.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 1.03. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.90.

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

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is 79.78%.

John Wiley & Sons 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.