WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WT. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $16.80 price target on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered WisdomTree from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on WisdomTree in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on WisdomTree from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 price target on WisdomTree in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WisdomTree has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.47.

WisdomTree Price Performance

WT stock opened at $19.40 on Monday. WisdomTree has a 1 year low of $9.24 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a current ratio of 4.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $16.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.31 and a beta of 1.13.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 33.31% and a net margin of 11.26%.The firm had revenue of $159.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. WisdomTree’s revenue was up 47.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WisdomTree will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WisdomTree

In related news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,140,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,201,725.80. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David M. Yates sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.06, for a total value of $270,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 157,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,844,431.94. This represents a 8.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 10.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WisdomTree

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in WisdomTree by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 11,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in WisdomTree by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 20,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its holdings in WisdomTree by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 12,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in WisdomTree by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 27,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in WisdomTree by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WisdomTree Company Profile

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.