Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL) Plans $0.20 Quarterly Dividend

Scholastic Co. (NASDAQ:SCHL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 20th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th.

Scholastic has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Scholastic has a dividend payout ratio of 25.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Scholastic to earn $3.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.6%.

Scholastic Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SCHL opened at $36.42 on Friday. Scholastic has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $37.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.01.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.80). Scholastic had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 3.16%. The business had revenue of $323.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.21 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.57) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Scholastic will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Scholastic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Iole Lucchese sold 400,000 shares of Scholastic stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total transaction of $13,404,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 579,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,410,566.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 18.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Scholastic

Scholastic Corporation publishes and distributes children's books worldwide. It operates in three segments: Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, and International. The Children's Book Publishing and Distribution segment engages in publication and distribution of children's books, eBooks, media, and interactive products through its school book clubs and fair channels, and trade channel.