WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

WT has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of WisdomTree from $16.75 to $16.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Northland Securities set a $20.00 target price on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WisdomTree currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.40.

WisdomTree Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WT opened at $14.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. WisdomTree has a 12 month low of $7.47 and a 12 month high of $17.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.81 and a 200-day moving average of $13.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29 and a beta of 1.11.

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

WisdomTree Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WisdomTree

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of WisdomTree stock in a transaction 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 approximately $19,201,725.80. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WisdomTree

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WT. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in WisdomTree by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,196,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,599 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP grew its position in shares of WisdomTree by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 6,150,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,970,000 after purchasing an additional 521,179 shares in the last quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of WisdomTree by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC now owns 5,253,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,038,000 after purchasing an additional 535,015 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of WisdomTree by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,642,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,399,000 after purchasing an additional 61,699 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of WisdomTree by 116.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,389,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,320,000 after buying an additional 1,823,777 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.