1 Stock for Retirees Seeking Dividend Safety

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• Wiley (WLY) generated $195.3M in free cash flow against $74.4M in dividends (38% payout ratio) while maintaining a 32-year dividend increase streak and 3.21% yield.
• Wiley's non-discretionary journal business and $205M FY2027 free cash flow guidance support dividend sustainability amid sticky inflation.
• Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and John Wiley & Sons didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

As sticky inflation continues to chip away at fixed incomes, retirees need dividend payers whose business models can absorb price pressure rather than crumble under it. John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) is a 218-year-old academic and research publisher whose journals function as non-discretionary expenses for universities, libraries, and corporate R&D departments. With core PCE still elevated at 129.63, I wanted to know whether Wiley’s payout can hold the line.

The Dividend at a Glance

Metric	Value
Annual Dividend	$1.418
Dividend Yield	3.21%
Consecutive Years of Increases	32 years
Most Recent Quarterly Rate	$0.355 (April 2026)
Dividend Aristocrat	Yes

Payout Ratios Leave Plenty of Room

Wiley paid $74.358 million in dividends against $195.341 million in free cash flow in FY2026, a fiscal year management called a “breakout year”. Free cash flow jumped +38.42% YoY, widening the cushion considerably.

Metric	TTM Value	Assessment
Earnings Payout Ratio	~34% ($1.418 / $4.19 adj. EPS)	Healthy
FCF Payout Ratio	~38%	Healthy
Operating Cash Flow Coverage	~3.5x ($260.5M OCF)	Strong

Leverage Worth Watching After Emerald

The recent $452 million Emerald Publishing acquisition pushed pro forma leverage to 2.1x. That is manageable, not pristine. Cash on hand sits at $75.622 million, and shareholders’ equity grew +12.77% to $848.242 million. Even during FY2024’s $200.3 million net loss, Wiley funded the dividend from operating cash flow, a real stress-test pass.

32 Years of Increases and Counting

Fiscal Year	Quarterly Rate
2026	$0.355
2025	$0.3525
2023	$0.3475
2021	$0.3425
2019	$0.34

Growth has decelerated to roughly 1% annually, a deliberate choice as management routes excess capital toward $100.082 million in FY2026 buybacks.

Management’s Conviction

CEO Matthew Kissner told investors on the Q4 call: “We accelerated our two reinforcing growth engines, Research and AI and data analytics, while delivering record margins and a significant step change in Free Cash Flow… we enter Fiscal 2027 with our strongest conviction yet.” FY2027 guidance backs that up: $4.60 to $5.05 adjusted EPS and $205 million in free cash flow.

The Verdict: This Dividend Is Safe

Dividend Safety Rating: Safe. A ~38% FCF payout ratio, 3.5x operating cash flow coverage, and a 32-year streak speak for themselves. I would be comfortable owning Wiley for income if the Research segment keeps compounding mid-single digits and AI revenue scales as guided. I would get cautious if leverage drifts above 3x or Learning segment weakness spreads. For retirees wanting a cash-backed 3.21% yield from a low-beta (0.804) toll-keeper of the knowledge economy, this one passes my test.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and John Wiley & Sons didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

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