Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $123.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WTFC. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their price target on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction 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 approximately $22,817,808.68. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,376,000 after buying an additional 146,090 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 92,995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.4 %

WTFC stock opened at $138.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial has a twelve month low of $84.96 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $119.10 and a 200-day moving average of $107.48.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 18.85%.

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.