Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHLGet Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $46.44, but opened at $42.38. Scholastic shares last traded at $43.9130, with a volume of 91,076 shares.

Key Scholastic News

Here are the key news stories impacting Scholastic this week:

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Scholastic in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scholastic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.00.

View Our Latest Report on SCHL

Scholastic Trading Down 4.7%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.72 and a 200 day moving average of $38.88. The company has a market cap of $962.06 million, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.99.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHLGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.03. Scholastic had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 3.88%.The business had revenue of $476.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $517.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Scholastic Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Scholastic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Scholastic’s payout ratio is 32.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SCHL. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Scholastic by 458.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Scholastic by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Scholastic during the 4th quarter worth about $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 127.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Scholastic in the 4th quarter valued at about $181,000. 82.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Scholastic

(Get Free Report)

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.

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