WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WT. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on WisdomTree from $16.75 to $16.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price objective on WisdomTree in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WisdomTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on WisdomTree from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.40.

WisdomTree Stock Down 0.6%

WT opened at $14.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.76. 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 has a 52 week low of $7.47 and a 52 week high of $17.68.

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

Insider Activity at WisdomTree

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of WisdomTree stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.84, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WT. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in WisdomTree by 2.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 456,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,076,000 after buying an additional 12,402 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in WisdomTree by 379.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 880,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,858,000 after acquiring an additional 697,156 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in WisdomTree by 5.5% in the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 238,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 12,400 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in WisdomTree by 138.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 881,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,141,000 after purchasing an additional 511,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of WisdomTree during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,206,000. 78.64% of the stock is 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.