R Squared Ltd Takes $242,000 Position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. $WLY

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WLY. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WLY shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered John Wiley & Sons from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of WLY stock opened at $37.18 on Friday. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.94 and a 12 month high of $53.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.48 and a 200-day moving average of $40.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 5.82%.The company had revenue of $533.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

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

John Wiley & Sons Dividend Announcement

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

About John Wiley & Sons

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.