John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Upgraded at Zacks Research

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) was upgraded by Zacks Research to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WLY. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of John Wiley & Sons in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised John Wiley & Sons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, John Wiley & Sons presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

John Wiley & Sons Trading Up 1.7%

WLY stock opened at $31.61 on Tuesday. John Wiley & Sons has a one year low of $29.93 and a one year high of $47.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $421.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.40 million. John Wiley & Sons had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 28.23%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. John Wiley & Sons has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.350 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that John Wiley & Sons will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Wiley & Sons

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 1st quarter worth $10,755,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 7.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 102,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after buying an additional 7,238 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in John Wiley & Sons in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,560,000. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its position in shares of John Wiley & Sons by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 73.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.