WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of WisdomTree from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Northland Securities set a $16.00 price objective on shares of WisdomTree in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.88.

WisdomTree Stock Performance

NYSE WT opened at $11.17 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16. WisdomTree has a 12-month low of $7.47 and a 12-month high of $14.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.14.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $125.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.00 million. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 26.59% and a net margin of 21.10%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that WisdomTree will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 25,000 shares of WisdomTree stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total transaction of $294,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,011,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,094.26. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,320 shares of company stock valued at $507,713. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of WisdomTree by 29.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 90,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $807,000 after acquiring an additional 20,724 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in WisdomTree by 52.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 483,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 166,622 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in WisdomTree by 85.6% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 518,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,623,000 after purchasing an additional 238,977 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its holdings in WisdomTree by 37.2% in the first quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 44,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 12,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of WisdomTree in the first quarter worth approximately $17,003,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

WisdomTree Company Profile

WisdomTree, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an exchange-traded funds (ETFs) sponsor and asset manager. It offers ETFs in equities, currency, fixed income, and alternatives asset classes. The company also licenses its indexes to third parties for proprietary products, as well as offers a platform to promote the use of WisdomTree ETFs in 401(k) plans.