Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $128.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WTFC. StockNews.com upgraded Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James increased their price target 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

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

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

WTFC opened at $135.05 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $130.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.65. Wintrust Financial has a twelve month low of $89.68 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.53 earnings per share. Wintrust Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.85%.

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.