HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 3,961 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 35.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,241 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 920.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 684 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WTFC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $113.45 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $124.72 and its 200 day moving average is $122.04. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $91.38 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company 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 is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at $298,042.20. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 over the last three months. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.