Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $39.76 and traded as high as $42.16. Scholastic shares last traded at $41.43, with a volume of 224,330 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SCHL. Wall Street Zen cut Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research lowered Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings cut Scholastic from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scholastic has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Scholastic Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $781.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.89 and its 200 day moving average is $39.76.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.03. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 5.29%. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $517.06 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Scholastic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio is 34.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kaya Henderson sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.25, for a total value of $130,812.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,113 shares in the company, valued at $286,298.25. The trade was a 31.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Scholastic during the second quarter worth $120,724,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 879.3% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,159,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,880 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Scholastic during the third quarter worth about $7,288,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Scholastic during the second quarter worth about $11,417,000. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new stake in Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth about $7,070,000. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

Scholastic Company Profile

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.