Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR) Stake Increased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp boosted its stake in Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR) by 19.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,481,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 565,584 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.16% of Waddell & Reed Financial worth $59,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waddell & Reed Financial by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,576 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Advantus Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Waddell & Reed Financial by 4.8% in the first quarter. Advantus Capital Management Inc now owns 10,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Bridgecreek Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waddell & Reed Financial by 10.0% in the first quarter. Bridgecreek Investment Management LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $187,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al purchased a new stake in shares of Waddell & Reed Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Finally, HPM Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waddell & Reed Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 93.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR) opened at 20.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 2.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.06 and its 200 day moving average is $18.13. Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.02 and a 52-week high of $22.45.

Waddell & Reed Financial (NYSE:WDR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $286.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $286.53 million. Waddell & Reed Financial had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 11.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. will post $1.60 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 11th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 7th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.98%. Waddell & Reed Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.98%.

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Several equities research analysts recently commented on WDR shares. ValuEngine raised Waddell & Reed Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. BidaskClub raised Waddell & Reed Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 15th. Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of Waddell & Reed Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Zacks Investment Research raised Waddell & Reed Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Waddell & Reed Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $16.50 to $17.75 in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Waddell & Reed Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.28.

Waddell & Reed Financial Company Profile

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc, incorporated on December 24, 1981, is a holding company. The Company is a mutual fund and asset management company. The Company provides investment management, investment advisory, investment product underwriting, and distribution and shareholder services administration to Waddell & Reed Advisors group of mutual funds (the Advisors Funds), Ivy Funds, Ivy Funds Variable Insurance Portfolios (Ivy Funds VIP), InvestEd Portfolios and 529 college savings plan (collectively, the Funds), and the Ivy Global Investors Fund SICAV (the SICAV) and its Ivy Global Investors sub-funds (the IGI Funds), and institutional and separately managed accounts.