John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of John Wiley & Sons stock opened at $39.74 on Friday. John Wiley & Sons has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $53.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.01). John Wiley & Sons had a return on equity of 27.33% and a net margin of 5.82%.The business had revenue of $396.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $375.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. Analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, June 26th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLY. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 323.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 528,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,569,000 after purchasing an additional 403,389 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 192.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 594,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,547,000 after buying an additional 391,428 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of John Wiley & Sons in the 1st quarter worth $10,755,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 300.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 233,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,429,000 after buying an additional 175,350 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 169.8% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 277,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,345,000 after buying an additional 174,367 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.94% of the company’s stock.

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.