Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR) Director Alan W. Kosloff sold 25,076 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total value of $486,474.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 71,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,394,336.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.
Shares of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (WDR) traded up 0.11% during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 558,647 shares. Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $15.02 and a one year high of $22.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.76 and its 200 day moving average is $18.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 2.04.
Waddell & Reed Financial (NYSE:WDR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. Waddell & Reed Financial had a return on equity of 18.75% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $286.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $285.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. will post $1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 11th were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 7th. Waddell & Reed Financial’s payout ratio is 115.72%.
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Waddell & Reed Financial by 23,010.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,672,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $283,440,000 after buying an additional 16,600,851 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Waddell & Reed Financial by 73.2% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,856,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,698,000 after buying an additional 2,052,378 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Waddell & Reed Financial by 119.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,501 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,059,000 after buying an additional 1,091,695 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Waddell & Reed Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $15,478,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waddell & Reed Financial by 11.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,596,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $143,419,000 after buying an additional 781,453 shares during the last quarter. 93.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
WDR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Waddell & Reed Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Waddell & Reed Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $16.50 to $17.75 in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Waddell & Reed Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of Waddell & Reed Financial in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Finally, BidaskClub raised Waddell & Reed Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Waddell & Reed Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.06.
About Waddell & Reed Financial
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.
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