Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday. Zacks Investment Research currently has $50.00 price target on the stock.
According to Zacks, “Scholastic Corp. creates and distributes innovative and quality educational materials for use in school - children’s books, textbooks, magazines, technology and teacher materials and engaging and appropriate products for use at home - magazines, software, television programming, videos and toys. Scholastic is unique in its understanding of what kids want and need to read and learn. The company is a world leader in children’s school book clubs and school book fairs, through which children purchase books and software. (PRESS RELEASE) “
Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SCHL. BidaskClub upgraded Scholastic Corporation from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Scholastic Corporation from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 28th.
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) opened at 42.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.23. Scholastic Corporation has a 12 month low of $35.20 and a 12 month high of $49.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60 and a beta of 0.75.
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $499.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $508 million. Scholastic Corporation had a return on equity of 5.16% and a net margin of 3.00%. Scholastic Corporation’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Scholastic Corporation will post $1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 29th. Scholastic Corporation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.96%.
In related news, CEO Richard Robinson sold 98,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $4,298,544.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,363,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,063,649.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Andres A. Alonso sold 964 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.48, for a total value of $41,914.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,349.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 225,884 shares of company stock valued at $9,792,144 over the last 90 days. 24.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Scholastic Corporation by 47,605.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,344,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,381,000 after buying an additional 3,337,631 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Scholastic Corporation by 3.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,900,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,889,000 after buying an additional 58,232 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Scholastic Corporation by 5.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 857,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,507,000 after buying an additional 46,139 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Scholastic Corporation by 3.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 676,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,798,000 after buying an additional 21,560 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Scholastic Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at $19,316,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.10% of the company’s stock.
About Scholastic Corporation
Scholastic Corporation is a publisher and distributor of children’s books, a provider of print and digital instructional materials for pre-kindergarten (pre-K) to grade 12, and a producer of educational and entertaining children’s media. The Company operates through three segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education and International.
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