Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in WisdomTree, Inc. $WT

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE:WT) by 101.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,009,556 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,013,658 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in WisdomTree were worth $29,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WT. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of WisdomTree by 236.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,674,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,477,000 after purchasing an additional 6,799,654 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of WisdomTree during the 4th quarter worth about $30,835,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of WisdomTree by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,389,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,777 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in WisdomTree by 463.8% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,697,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,598,000 after buying an additional 1,396,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in WisdomTree in the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,649,000. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WisdomTree Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WT opened at $20.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 48.83 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 4.57, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.37. WisdomTree, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.69 and a 12-month high of $20.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.59 and a 200 day moving average of $16.72.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $159.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.96 million. WisdomTree had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 33.31%. The business’s revenue was up 47.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WisdomTree, Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued 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 was Wednesday, May 13th. WisdomTree’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WisdomTree news, insider David M. Yates sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.06, for a total value of $270,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 157,499 shares in the company, valued at $2,844,431.94. This represents a 8.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.99, for a total value of $569,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,110,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,083,552.55. This trade represents a 2.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 10.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on WisdomTree from $18.00 to $20.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded WisdomTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered WisdomTree from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Northland Securities set a $22.00 price objective on WisdomTree in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.06.

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.