WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 27,965,274 shares, a growth of 25.6% from the January 15th total of 22,264,729 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,258,138 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 21.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Approximately 21.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 6,258,138 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.01, for a total transaction of $137,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 998,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,995,004.38. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David M. Yates sold 6,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.12, for a total value of $75,838.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 152,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,691,607.76. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of WisdomTree

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of WisdomTree by 236.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,674,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,477,000 after acquiring an additional 6,799,654 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in WisdomTree in the 4th quarter worth about $30,835,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in WisdomTree by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,389,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,777 shares during the last quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC bought a new stake in WisdomTree during the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,125,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in WisdomTree by 463.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,697,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,598,000 after buying an additional 1,396,569 shares during the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WT has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $17.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on shares of WisdomTree in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of WisdomTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WisdomTree currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.65.

WisdomTree Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of WT traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $16.37. 1,933,010 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,898,503. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $14.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.23. WisdomTree has a 1 year low of $7.47 and a 1 year high of $17.09.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.06. WisdomTree had a net margin of 22.10% and a return on equity of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $147.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WisdomTree will post 0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Announces Dividend

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

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.