Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WTFC. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $133.45 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The company has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $130.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. Wintrust Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. This represents a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314 over the last ninety days. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 146,090 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after acquiring an additional 133,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.