Royce & Associates LP Sells 16,451 Shares of Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Royce & Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) by 66.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,451 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Scholastic were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Scholastic during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $290,000. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $650,000. Salzhauer Michael bought a new stake in Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $524,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Scholastic by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 111,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Scholastic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $258,000. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SCHL. Wall Street Zen downgraded Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scholastic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

Scholastic Price Performance

NASDAQ:SCHL opened at $40.50 on Monday. Scholastic Corporation has a 1 year low of $16.81 and a 1 year high of $43.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.55. The company has a market cap of $880.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $329.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.53 million. Scholastic had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 3.88%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Scholastic Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Scholastic’s payout ratio is currently 32.26%.

Scholastic declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, March 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 23% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Scholastic 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.