Swiss National Bank Increases Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Swiss National Bank raised its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 6.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 129,867 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $14,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $958,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,452,753 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,603,000 after purchasing an additional 244,168 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the bank’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 49,850 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $200,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 9.75 % 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 worth $2,445,314 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $137.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $116.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.19. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $82.90 and a 52-week high of $137.32. The company has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.15.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. Wintrust Financial’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTFC. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial 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.