Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 3,296 Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,296 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $411,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 920.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $113.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $91.38 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $124.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.93.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on WTFC shares. Truist Financial raised shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

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.