Commerce Bank Lowers Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,667 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Princeton Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the bank’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 46,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,043,000 after buying an additional 2,728 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $499,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 36,366.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 129,867 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,094,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WTFC. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,817,808.68. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total value of $182,330.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314 in the last three months. 1.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $138.50 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $117.33 and a 200 day moving average of $106.79. The company has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $82.90 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The business had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 18.85%.

Wintrust Financial Company Profile

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.