Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Invests $7.07 Million in Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 238,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned 0.94% of Scholastic at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Scholastic by 458.1% during 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Scholastic by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Scholastic during the fourth quarter valued at $116,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Scholastic during the third quarter valued at $137,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Scholastic by 127.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares during the period. 82.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Scholastic Stock Up 5.6%

SCHL stock opened at $42.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $929.91 million, a P/E ratio of 17.25 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.65. Scholastic Corporation has a 52 week low of $16.81 and a 52 week high of $43.39.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.22. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 2.47%. The business had revenue of $329.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.53 million. On average, analysts expect that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 23% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.26%.

Scholastic 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.