Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 51,000 WisdomTree, Inc. $WT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 51,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $743,000.

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

WisdomTree Price Performance

NYSE:WT traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.20. 76,003 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,549,493. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $18.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.27. WisdomTree, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.69 and a 52-week high of $19.85. The company has a current ratio of 4.57, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.37. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.17 and a beta of 1.18.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $159.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.96 million. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 33.31% and a net margin of 11.26%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that WisdomTree, Inc. will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. WisdomTree’s payout ratio is 29.27%.

Insider Activity

In other WisdomTree news, insider David M. Yates sold 15,000 shares of WisdomTree stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.06, for a total value of $270,900.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 157,499 shares in the company, valued at $2,844,431.94. The trade was a 8.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.99, for a total value of $569,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,110,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,083,552.55. The trade was a 2.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 10.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WT. Weiss Ratings cut WisdomTree from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Northland Securities set a $22.00 price target on shares of WisdomTree in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of WisdomTree in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WisdomTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, WisdomTree presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.06.

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.