John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $37.91, but opened at $42.52. John Wiley & Sons shares last traded at $41.45, with a volume of 67,259 shares traded.

The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.39. John Wiley & Sons had a positive return on equity of 24.14% and a negative net margin of 2.82%. The firm had revenue of $404.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $401.10 million.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.3525 per share. This represents a $1.41 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. This is a positive change from John Wiley & Sons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. John Wiley & Sons's payout ratio is -154.95%.

Institutional Trading of John Wiley & Sons

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,318,812 shares of the company's stock worth $232,485,000 after acquiring an additional 21,748 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,688,156 shares of the company's stock worth $81,454,000 after purchasing an additional 113,631 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in John Wiley & Sons by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,053,035 shares of the company's stock worth $46,028,000 after purchasing an additional 25,667 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,027,831 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,926,000 after purchasing an additional 17,583 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,880,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.94% of the company's stock.

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John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.77 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.97.

John Wiley & Sons Company Profile

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.