UBS Group Initiates Coverage on Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Stock analysts at UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the bank’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 25.95% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WTFC. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $124.65 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial has a 52-week low of $89.68 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.13 and a 200 day moving average of $110.63. 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 has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 1.18.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’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 value of $473,967.37. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 11.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,227 shares of the bank’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,431 shares of the bank’s stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 207,944 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,495,000 after purchasing an additional 5,563 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 15.5% during the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 630,824 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,174,000 after purchasing an additional 84,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 2.1% in the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 139,292 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,729,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.