WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETF) Chief Executive Officer Jonathan L. Steinberg has acquired 250,000 shares of his company valued at $2.5 million.
The CEO made the acquisition on August 19 at an average share price of $10.16 per share thus bringing the total value of his stock acquisition to $2.5 million. The purchase brings Steinberg’s portfolio to 7.38 million shares. His stock portfolio represents 5.57% of WisdomTree’s market capitalization. The company issues fixed income ETFs, currency ETFs, Equity ETFs and Hedged Equity ETFs. The firm’s current market capitalization is $1.4 billion. The additional stock that the CEO has acquired means places him in a better position to reap more in terms of dividends from the firm
The acquisition has also been treated by market analysts as a sign of positive expectations from the firm. This has translated to various sentiments from nine analysts watching the company’s stocks. Two of the analysts have issued a “buy” rating on the stock while 5 of the analysts have issued a “hold” rating. This means that 22% of the sentiments are positive. The highest price target for the WisdomTree stock is $24 per share while the lowest price target is $10. The average price target for the stock is $16.57 which means that the firm requires a 61.97% rise from the current stock value.
A total of 19 analysts has been keeping watch over the company’s stock and presented their reports since August 26, 2015. One of the analysts was Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) which gave the company a neutral rating on June 28 this year, thus downgrading the stock. WisdomTree has various institutional investors such as Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc with 425,940 shares which represent 3.01% of WisdomTree’s entire share portfolio. Another institutional investor known as Shanda Payment Holdings Ltd has 1.84% stake in the firm with 1.48 million shares. Though the CEO’s recent share boost represents a small fraction of the entire portfolio, it is expected to provoke positive response from investors.
