John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 947,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the August 31st total of 791,300 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 340,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

John Wiley & Sons Stock Performance

NYSE WLY traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $48.25. 430,369 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 352,658. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.35 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. John Wiley & Sons has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $49.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.60.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.08). John Wiley & Sons had a positive return on equity of 21.59% and a negative net margin of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $403.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that John Wiley & Sons will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

John Wiley & Sons Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be given a dividend of $0.352 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $1.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. John Wiley & Sons’s dividend payout ratio is presently -38.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the second quarter worth $100,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of John Wiley & Sons during the 2nd quarter valued at $121,000. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 47,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 19,964 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in John Wiley & Sons by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in John Wiley & Sons by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. 73.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc operates as a research and education company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Research, Academic, and Talent. The company offers scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, as well as related content and services to learned societies, individual researchers, other professionals, and academic, corporate, and government libraries.