WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $17.27 and last traded at $17.1440, with a volume of 734386 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.69.

WT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of WisdomTree from $17.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price objective on shares of WisdomTree in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of WisdomTree

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in WisdomTree by 2.8% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 12,402 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased 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 last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in WisdomTree by 312.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 9,418 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in WisdomTree by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 905,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,421,000 after buying an additional 97,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in WisdomTree by 10.8% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 1,840 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

WisdomTree Trading Down 1.5%

The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81 and a beta of 1.09.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 EPS 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 company had revenue of $147.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that WisdomTree, Inc. will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

WisdomTree Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 11th. WisdomTree’s payout ratio is 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.