Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Scholastic Corporation $SCHL

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SCHL. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Scholastic by 458.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,593 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Scholastic by 63.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Scholastic in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $137,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in Scholastic by 152.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 6,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 8,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

Scholastic Stock Performance

Shares of SCHL opened at $34.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Scholastic Corporation has a 52 week low of $15.77 and a 52 week high of $35.79. The stock has a market cap of $867.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -170.55 and a beta of 1.19.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.10. Scholastic had a positive return on equity of 2.66% and a negative net margin of 0.21%.The company had revenue of $551.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $556.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Scholastic Corporation will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Scholastic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Scholastic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -400.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SCHL shares. Zacks Research raised Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Scholastic from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

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.