Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Shares Down 5.9% – Here’s Why

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL)’s stock price fell 5.9% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $27.17 and last traded at $27.0730. 137,371 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 320,724 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.77.

Scholastic News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Scholastic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 EPS beat — Scholastic reported GAAP EPS of $2.17, above consensus, driven by improved margins and higher profitability. Scholastic Reports Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Share repurchase authorization — the board approved an expanded $150M buyback as an initial use of proceeds from real‑estate transactions, a shareholder‑friendly capital return. Scholastic reports higher profit for Q2, boosts buyback to $150M
• Positive Sentiment: Large sale‑leaseback closed — Scholastic completed sale‑leaseback transactions for its NYC HQ and distribution center, generating roughly $400M+ of proceeds to strengthen the balance sheet and fund buybacks. Scholastic Closes Highly Accretive Sale‑Leaseback Transactions
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor materials and call available — management provided an earnings presentation and call transcript for further detail on segment performance and strategy. Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed — Q2 revenue of $551.1M came in below Street estimates, reflecting mixed sales across segments and tempering the positive EPS surprise. Q2 results: EPS beat on modest revenue growth; weak operating cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Weak operating cash flow and lower cash balance — operating cash flow turned negative and cash on hand declined year‑over‑year, which raises short‑term liquidity questions despite real‑estate proceeds. Q2 results: EPS beat on modest revenue growth; weak operating cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction — coverage and news summaries note the combination of the revenue miss, cash flow weakness and heavy insider/institutional activity as reasons the stock is trading down on elevated volume. Scholastic (SCHL) stock trades down, here is why

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on SCHL. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Scholastic in a report on Tuesday. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Scholastic in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Scholastic Stock Down 6.2%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $678.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.00 and a beta of 1.18.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.10. Scholastic had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.21%.The firm had revenue of $551.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $556.72 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Scholastic Corporation will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Scholastic’s payout ratio is currently -121.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scholastic

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SCHL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Scholastic by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Scholastic by 63.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 819.5% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Strs Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Scholastic by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 80,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,682,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

Scholastic Company Profile

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is a global company dedicated to children’s publishing, education technology and distribution services. The company’s core business encompasses three primary segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Technology, and International operations. Through its publishing arm, Scholastic produces and distributes a wide range of children’s books, novels, nonfiction titles and classroom magazines under well-known imprints such as Scholastic Press, Graphix and Chicken House.