Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 58,162 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,911,488 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,162 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Wintrust Financial worth $861,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WTFC. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $125,464,000 after buying an additional 92,995 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 261.4% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 698,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,126,000 after acquiring an additional 505,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 513,752 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,070,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $112.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.27. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $91.38 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Barclays increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

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.