Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 36.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,459 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,999 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the 3rd 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % 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 quarter. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 1.4 %

WTFC stock opened at $136.92 on Wednesday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $89.68 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors 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 yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.85%.

Wintrust Financial Company Profile

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.