Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $134.82 and last traded at $134.82, with a volume of 9502 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $133.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 1.3 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $112.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.15.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly 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). Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The firm had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.53 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.85%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314 in the last 90 days. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,702 shares of the bank’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 118,312 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,351,000 after purchasing an additional 22,586 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 127,567 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,316,000 after buying an additional 7,095 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by 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.