John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $32.81 and last traded at $32.7770, with a volume of 389714 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.98 and its 200-day moving average is $39.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.13. John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 5.82%.The company had revenue of $421.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th were paid a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 7th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.78%.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 25th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLY. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,207,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,351,000 after acquiring an additional 315,329 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in John Wiley & Sons by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,714,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,515,000 after purchasing an additional 34,782 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,573,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,673,000 after buying an additional 19,067 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,557,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,041,000 after buying an additional 55,155 shares during the period. Finally, SG Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 71.1% in the third quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,685,000 after acquiring an additional 612,866 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

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.