Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $9.94 Million Stock Position in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 222,972 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,901 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.41% of John Wiley & Sons worth $9,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at $44,880,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at $34,916,000. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC increased its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 171.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in John Wiley & Sons in the fourth quarter valued at $3,436,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,201,000. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Down 0.2%

John Wiley & Sons stock opened at $42.46 on Tuesday. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.50 and a fifty-two week high of $53.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $442.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $435.00 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 27.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that John Wiley & Sons, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, June 26th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

John Wiley & Sons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This is a boost from John Wiley & Sons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of John Wiley & Sons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st.

About John Wiley & Sons

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.