Ionic Capital Management LLC Takes $444,000 Position in Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Ionic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,593,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,230,000 after buying an additional 59,017 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 879.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,159,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,741,000 after buying an additional 1,040,880 shares during the period. J. Goldman & Co LP grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP now owns 797,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,641,000 after buying an additional 31,427 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 739,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,244,000 after buying an additional 44,558 shares during the period. Finally, Bragg Financial Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 668,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,820,000 after buying an additional 76,801 shares during the period. 82.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scholastic Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Scholastic stock opened at $42.75 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.86. Scholastic Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.70 and a twelve month high of $44.54. The stock has a market cap of $929.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.02.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $329.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.53 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 2.47%. Analysts forecast that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHL has been the subject of several research reports. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Scholastic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

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.