American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stake in Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL) by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 488,259 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,835 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 1.71% of Scholastic worth $17,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHL. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Scholastic during the second quarter valued at about $64,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Scholastic during the first quarter worth about $129,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 1st quarter valued at about $215,000. 82.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th.

Scholastic Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Scholastic stock opened at $31.40 on Friday. Scholastic Co. has a twelve month low of $28.47 and a twelve month high of $41.79. The stock has a market cap of $886.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.55.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.66 by ($0.93). The company had revenue of $474.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $552.50 million. Scholastic had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 0.76%. Analysts forecast that Scholastic Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Scholastic’s payout ratio is currently 55.17%.

Insider Transactions at Scholastic

In other news, EVP Iole Lucchese purchased 1,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.49 per share, with a total value of $50,430.46. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,264,309.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Iole Lucchese acquired 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.49 per share, with a total value of $50,430.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,264,309.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Warwick Peter bought 1,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.46 per share, for a total transaction of $50,990.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 104,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,470.54. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.62% of the company’s stock.

Scholastic Profile

Scholastic Corporation publishes and distributes children’s books worldwide. It operates in three segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, and International. The Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment engages in publication and distribution of children’s print, digital, and audio books, as well as media and interactive products through its school reading events and trade channel; and operation of school-based book clubs and book fairs in the United States.