Investors Purchase High Volume of WisdomTree Call Options (NYSE:WT)

WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 10,831 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,040% compared to the average volume of 950 call options.

Institutional Trading of WisdomTree

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of WisdomTree during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of WisdomTree by 390.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 99,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 79,279 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in WisdomTree in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,168,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in WisdomTree by 1,433.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,427,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,383 shares during the period. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC raised its holdings in WisdomTree by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 15,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 4,984 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 price target on WisdomTree in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Northland Securities raised their target price on WisdomTree from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WisdomTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of WisdomTree from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.66.

WisdomTree Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WT traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,155,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,284,645. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 46.48 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $21.43 and its 200-day moving average is $18.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 3.00. WisdomTree has a 12-month low of $10.69 and a 12-month high of $25.91.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. WisdomTree had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 13.27%.The company had revenue of $177.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.62 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 57.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WisdomTree will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

WisdomTree Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.08%.

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.