MQS Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

MQS Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,078 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,452,753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,603,000 after buying an additional 244,168 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,376,000 after acquiring an additional 146,090 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 4.6% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,638,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $171,000,000 after purchasing an additional 72,082 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 54.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,330,263 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $138,866,000 after purchasing an additional 469,640 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 815,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,372,000 after purchasing an additional 14,087 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on WTFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $118.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.23.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 1.8 %

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $108.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $104.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.52. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $71.86 and a 1 year high of $113.68. The stock has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $591.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.33 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.71% and a net margin of 17.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.61%.

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.