Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 17.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.7%.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $100.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98. Wintrust Financial has a 52-week low of $58.12 and a 52-week high of $105.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $98.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $604.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.80 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 13.09%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WTFC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.33.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $943,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,599,040.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.47% of the stock is currently 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.