Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $43.99 and last traded at $43.1070, with a volume of 129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.16.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SCHL shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Scholastic Trading Down 2.0%

The stock has a market cap of $919.64 million, a P/E ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.06.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $329.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.53 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 2.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.26%.

Scholastic declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 23% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Scholastic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,593,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,230,000 after purchasing an additional 59,017 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Scholastic by 879.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,159,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,880 shares during the period. J. Goldman & Co LP boosted its stake in shares of Scholastic by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP now owns 797,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,641,000 after buying an additional 31,427 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Scholastic by 6.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 739,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,244,000 after purchasing an additional 44,558 shares during the period. Finally, Bragg Financial Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Scholastic by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 668,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,820,000 after buying an additional 76,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

About Scholastic

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.