Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $442,000 Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC reduced its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,543 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 694 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on WTFC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total value of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $109.77 on Thursday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $91.38 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.70. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

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.