Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $33.81 and last traded at $33.4750, with a volume of 14800 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SCHL shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Scholastic in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Scholastic from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Scholastic Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $865.72 million, a PE ratio of -170.15 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.09 and a 200-day moving average of $26.81.

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

Scholastic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Scholastic’s payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHL. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scholastic by 819.5% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Scholastic by 458.1% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Scholastic by 63.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 983 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Scholastic in the third quarter worth approximately $137,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Scholastic by 127.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.57% of the company’s stock.

About Scholastic

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.