Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Reduces Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,967,886 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 298,766 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 4.46% of Wintrust Financial worth $370,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,263,837 shares of the bank’s stock worth $157,613,000 after buying an additional 337,763 shares during the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 4,982 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 137.1% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 143,380 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,859,000 after purchasing an additional 82,918 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $968,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 56,288 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WTFC. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $155.00 to $138.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.38.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $102.51 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $89.10 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $113.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 0.94.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services.