John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Sets New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $29.61 and last traded at $29.79, with a volume of 339851 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WLY. Zacks Research upgraded shares of John Wiley & Sons to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of John Wiley & Sons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.08 and its 200-day moving average is $38.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 0.97.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.13. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 28.23%. The company had revenue of $421.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th will be paid a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 30th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is 75.53%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLY. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 519.8% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the first quarter worth $29,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the second quarter worth $31,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 1,595.7% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 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 educational services company founded in 1807 and headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company operates through two primary segments: Research & Publishing and Education. Through these segments, Wiley produces a wide range of scholarly journals, books, reference works and digital products for academic, scientific, technical and medical markets, as well as professional development and higher education learning resources.

In its Research & Publishing segment, Wiley publishes thousands of peer-reviewed journals and maintains the Wiley Online Library, a leading platform for scientific and scholarly content.