Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $128.00.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTFC. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their target price 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC stock opened at $125.93 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.66. The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial has a 12-month low of $89.68 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

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

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This represents 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 valued at $2,445,314 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Shaker Investments LLC OH lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 28,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.