Insider Selling: MarketWise (NASDAQ:MKTW) General Counsel Sells 711 Shares of Stock

MarketWise, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTW) General Counsel Scott Daniel Forney sold 711 shares of MarketWise stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.14, for a total transaction of $13,608.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 21,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,725.26. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

MarketWise Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTW traded down $0.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.86. 16,125 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,588. The firm has a market cap of $294.78 million, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.26. MarketWise, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.49 and a 12 month high of $21.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.28.

MarketWise (NASDAQ:MKTW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The newsletter publisher reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. MarketWise had a net margin of 1.29% and a negative return on equity of 1.86%. The firm had revenue of $77.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.74 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketWise, Inc. will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketWise Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from MarketWise’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. MarketWise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in MarketWise in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in MarketWise by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,199 shares of the newsletter publisher’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketWise by 300.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 121,661 shares of the newsletter publisher’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 91,282 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new position in MarketWise in the third quarter valued at $191,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in MarketWise in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $226,000. 23.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketWise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings raised MarketWise from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

MarketWise Company Profile

MarketWise, Inc operates a content and technology multi-brand platform for self-directed investors in the United States and Internationally. Its platform includes subscription businesses that provides financial research, software, education, and tools to navigate the financial markets. The company offers various investment strategies, such as value investing, income, growth, commodities, cryptocurrencies, venture, crowdfunded investing, biotechnology, mutual funds, options, and trading; investment research product portfolio through a range of media, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile; and financial newsletters.