Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Position Lifted by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,726 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,099 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after acquiring an additional 637,072 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after acquiring an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after acquiring an additional 133,311 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $125,464,000 after purchasing an additional 92,995 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $115.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.21. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $91.38 and a 52 week high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

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.