Texas Permanent School Fund Reduces Holdings in Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL)

Texas Permanent School Fund decreased its holdings in Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL – Get Rating) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,984 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,753 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund owned 0.06% of Scholastic worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SCHL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 43.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 21.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 383.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 41,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 33,119 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 5.7% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 29,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Scholastic by 2.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SCHL. TheStreet downgraded shares of Scholastic from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th.

Scholastic Price Performance

Scholastic stock opened at $40.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97 and a beta of 1.11. Scholastic Co. has a 1 year low of $28.22 and a 1 year high of $48.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.16.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $324.90 million for the quarter. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 6.04%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Scholastic Co. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Scholastic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Scholastic Company Profile

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Scholastic Corp. engages in the publication and distribution of children’s books, magazines, and teaching materials. It operates through the following segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education, and International. The Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment includes the publication and distribution of children’s books, e-books, media, and interactive products.