Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,946 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 578 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WTFC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,911,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,932,000 after buying an additional 58,162 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $285,169,000 after acquiring an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $125,464,000 after acquiring an additional 92,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 261.4% in the fourth 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 last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In related news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WTFC. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC stock opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $122.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $91.38 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $1.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 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.