WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on WT. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on WisdomTree from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Zacks Research cut WisdomTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Raymond James Financial began coverage on WisdomTree in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on WisdomTree from $16.75 to $16.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.83.

WisdomTree Stock Performance

NYSE WT opened at $16.68 on Friday. WisdomTree has a 1-year low of $8.45 and a 1-year high of $18.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $142.78 million. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 30.24% and a net margin of 22.10%.WisdomTree’s quarterly revenue was up 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that WisdomTree will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $505,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,140,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WT. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in WisdomTree by 163.0% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in WisdomTree by 1,679.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WisdomTree in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in WisdomTree in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WisdomTree in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

About WisdomTree

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.