New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 6,819 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 350,641 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,819 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $43,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WTFC. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 387.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 21.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,341 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 218,733 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,739,000 after purchasing an additional 10,789 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 203,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,063,000 after purchasing an additional 14,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 111.7% during the third quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 1,033 shares of the bank’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WTFC shares. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total value of $553,209.03. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 in the last ninety days. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

WTFC stock opened at $130.80 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $91.38 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 1.19.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

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.