Prudential Financial Inc. Acquires 1,306,620 Shares of WisdomTree, Inc. $WT

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) by 1,119.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,423,293 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,306,620 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in WisdomTree were worth $16,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of WisdomTree by 112.4% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in WisdomTree in the 2nd quarter worth about $58,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in WisdomTree by 758.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in WisdomTree in the 1st quarter worth about $94,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in WisdomTree during the 2nd quarter valued at about $120,000. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WT. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of WisdomTree from $14.75 to $13.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities set a $16.00 price target on WisdomTree in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised WisdomTree from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

WisdomTree Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of WT stock opened at $10.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. WisdomTree, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.47 and a 12 month high of $14.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.18.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $125.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.00 million. WisdomTree had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 25.17%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that WisdomTree, Inc. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. WisdomTree’s payout ratio is currently 18.46%.

Insider Activity at WisdomTree

In other news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total value of $294,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,011,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,901,094.26. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About WisdomTree

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.