Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $107.93 Million Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 41.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 865,409 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 253,050 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $107,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,906,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 261.4% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 698,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,126,000 after purchasing an additional 505,293 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,562,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,169,000 after buying an additional 126,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WTFC. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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, Barclays upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WTFC opened at $112.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.56 and a 200-day moving average of $122.48. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a one year low of $91.38 and a one year high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 1.78%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total value of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 over the last ninety days. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.