WisdomTree Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:WT)

WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 24,274 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 3,464% compared to the typical volume of 681 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WT. Wall Street Zen cut WisdomTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $16.75 price target on WisdomTree in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Zacks Research raised WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 target price on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at WisdomTree

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.84, for a total transaction of $505,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,140,245 shares in the company, valued at $19,201,725.80. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of WisdomTree by 236.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,674,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,477,000 after purchasing an additional 6,799,654 shares during the period. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in WisdomTree in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,835,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in WisdomTree by 116.5% in the fourth 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 period. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC acquired a new position in WisdomTree during the third quarter worth $24,125,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in WisdomTree by 463.8% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,697,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

WisdomTree Price Performance

WT traded down $0.43 during trading on Thursday, reaching $14.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,022,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,981,397. The company has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.75. WisdomTree has a 1 year low of $7.47 and a 1 year high of $17.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.06. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 30.24% and a net margin of 22.10%.The firm had revenue of $147.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that WisdomTree will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

WisdomTree Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

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.