Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SCHL. Weiss Ratings upgraded Scholastic from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Scholastic from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Scholastic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Scholastic Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SCHL opened at $39.24 on Tuesday. Scholastic has a fifty-two week low of $16.78 and a fifty-two week high of $43.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.60 and its 200 day moving average is $33.93. The company has a market capitalization of $853.08 million, a P/E ratio of 15.82 and a beta of 1.04.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.22. Scholastic had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 3.88%.The business had revenue of $329.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.53 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Scholastic will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Scholastic announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, March 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 23% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scholastic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 3.8% during the fourth 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. increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 879.3% during the third 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 increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 4.1% during the fourth 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. increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 6.4% during the third 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 increased its position in shares of Scholastic by 13.0% during the fourth 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

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.