Pearson (PSO) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Pearson plc offers educational courseware, assessments, and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, other European countries, and internationally. The company operates through five segments: Assessment & Qualifications, Virtual Learning, English Language Learning, Workforce Skills, and Higher Education. The Assessment & Qualifications segment offers Pearson VUE, US student assessment, clinical assessment, UK GCSE, and A levels and international academic qualifications and associated courseware. The Virtual Learning segment provides virtual schools and online program management services. The English Language Learning segment offers Pearson test of English, institutional courseware, and English online solutions. The Workforce Skills offers BTEC, GED, TalentLens, Faethm, Credly, Pearson college, and apprenticeships. The Higher Education segment engages in the US, Canadian, and international higher education courseware businesses. The company was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $15.75 to $15.92
• 50-Day Range: $14.82 to $17.77
• 52-Week Range: $11.78 to $17.90
• Volume: 588,257 shs
• Average Volume: 449,133 shs
• Market Capitalization: $10.57 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.89
• Dividend Yield: 2.58%
• Price Target: $18.00
• Consensus Rating: Strong Buy

Pearson Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Pearson scored higher than 53% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 141st out of 276 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.8 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Strong Buy

Consensus Rating

Pearson has received a consensus rating of Strong Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.50, and is based on 1 buy rating, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Pearson has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.79%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Pearson are expected to grow by 7.79% in the coming year, from $0.77 to $0.83 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Pearson is 16.91, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 21.66.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Pearson is 16.91, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 16.25.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Pearson has a PEG Ratio of 2.65. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Pearson has a P/B Ratio of 2.24. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.13% of the float of Pearson has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Pearson has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Pearson has recently increased by 19.96%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Pearson pays a meaningful dividend of 2.68%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Pearson does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Pearson is 43.62%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Pearson will have a dividend payout ratio of 49.40% next year. This indicates that Pearson will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.13% of the float of Pearson has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Pearson has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Pearson has recently increased by 19.96%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.62

News Sentiment

Pearson has a news sentiment score of 0.62. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.77 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 6 news articles for Pearson this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 2 people have added Pearson to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Pearson insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.14% of the stock of Pearson is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

Only 2.14% of the stock of Pearson is held by institutions.

PSO Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have PSO shares performed this year?

Pearson's stock was trading at $16.12 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, PSO shares have decreased by 1.4% and is now trading at $15.8950.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

Does Pearson have any subsidiaries?

Pearson subsidiaries include these companies: Integrated Analytics LLC, Multi Holding, Virtual Nerd, EmbanetCompass, Author Solutions, Certiport, GlobalEnglish, and others.

Who are Pearson's major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Pearson include GAMMA Investing LLC (0.02%), QRG Capital Management Inc. (0.01%), Versant Capital Management Inc and Rhumbline Advisers.

How do I buy shares of Pearson?

Shares of PSO stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Pearson own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Pearson investors own include Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), NVIDIA (NVDA), GE Aerospace (GE), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Builders FirstSource (BLDR) and Adobe (ADBE).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 5/16 Dividend: 3/21/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 5/16 Dividend: 3/21/2025
• Today: 4/24/2025
• Dividend Payable: 5/16/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Book publishing
• Sub-Industry: Printing And Publishing
• Current Symbol: NYSE:PSO
• CIK: 938323
• Web: www.pearson.com
• Phone: 442070102000
• Fax: 44-20-7010-6060
• Employees: 21,400
• Year Founded: 1998

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $18.00
• High Stock Price Target: $18.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $18.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +14.3%
• Consensus Rating: Strong Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.50
• Research Coverage: 2 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): N/A
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.75
• Forward P/E Ratio: 20.45
• P/E Growth: 2.65
• Net Income: N/A
• Net Margins: N/A
• Pretax Margin: N/A
• Return on Equity: N/A
• Return on Assets: N/A

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.34
• Current Ratio: 1.78
• Quick Ratio: 1.72

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $3.55 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.95
• Cash Flow: $1.10 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 14.30
• Book Value: $7.11 per share
• Price / Book: 2.21

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 665,854,000
• Free Float: 665,621,000
• Market Cap: $10.49 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.42