John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Shares Up 6.4% Following Strong Earnings

Shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) traded up 6.4% on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $46.57 and last traded at $46.51. 345,269 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 324,058 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.70.

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

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $0.3525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $1.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. This is an increase from John Wiley & Sons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -154.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,880,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,916,000. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 171.8% during the 4th quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 347,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,169,000 after purchasing an additional 219,349 shares during the last quarter. River Global Investors LLP bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,174,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 640,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,925,000 after purchasing an additional 145,270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.71 and a beta of 0.82.

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.