WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $16.75 price objective on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 target price on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.65.

WisdomTree Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of WT stock opened at $17.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.46. WisdomTree has a 1-year low of $7.47 and a 1-year high of $17.48.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $147.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.78 million. WisdomTree had a net margin of 22.10% and a return on equity of 30.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that WisdomTree will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. WisdomTree’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Insider Transactions at WisdomTree

In other WisdomTree news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.84, for a total transaction of $505,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,140,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,201,725.80. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David M. Yates sold 6,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.12, for a total value of $75,838.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 152,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,691,607.76. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WT. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in WisdomTree by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 456,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,076,000 after acquiring an additional 12,402 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in WisdomTree by 379.3% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 880,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,858,000 after acquiring an additional 697,156 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of WisdomTree by 312.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 9,418 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of WisdomTree by 12.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 905,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,421,000 after purchasing an additional 97,070 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of WisdomTree by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WisdomTree Company Profile

WisdomTree Investments, Inc (NYSE: WT) is a U.S.-based asset management firm specializing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs). Founded in 2006 by Jonathan Steinberg and headquartered in New York City, WisdomTree has developed a reputation for pioneering smart-beta and fundamentally weighted indexing approaches. The company designs strategies that seek to enhance returns and reduce volatility by weighting constituents based on dividends, earnings or other financial metrics rather than relying solely on market capitalization.

WisdomTree offers a broad suite of investment products covering equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and digital assets.