Short Interest in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Expands By 24.1%

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 951,600 shares, an increase of 24.1% from the November 30th total of 766,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 416,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $124.41 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial has a 12 month low of $89.68 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.24. The stock has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.18. 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 (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 18.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In related news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,376,000 after buying an additional 146,090 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after buying an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after acquiring an additional 133,311 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,464,000 after acquiring an additional 92,995 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WTFC. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

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.