Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives $133.69 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $133.69.

Several research firms have commented on WTFC. Truist Financial raised shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $110.85 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial has a 52-week low of $91.38 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.13 and a 200-day moving average of $121.75. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,042.20. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. This trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 over the last ninety days. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,911,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $861,932,000 after buying an additional 58,162 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,767,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.