Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Director Sells 3,250 Shares of Stock

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) Director Kaya Henderson sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.25, for a total value of $130,812.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,298.25. The trade was a 31.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Scholastic Stock Performance

SCHL traded up $2.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.98. 444,903 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 365,122. Scholastic Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.68 and a fifty-two week high of $48.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.50. The company has a market capitalization of $791.74 million, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.01.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $517.06 million. Scholastic had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 5.29%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Scholastic Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scholastic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Scholastic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio is 34.19%.

Institutional Trading of Scholastic

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Scholastic during the second quarter worth approximately $120,724,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $247,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Scholastic in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $760,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Scholastic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,417,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Scholastic during the 2nd quarter valued at $115,000. 82.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHL has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on Scholastic from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research lowered Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Scholastic from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $42.00.

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.