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

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $133.69.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC opened at $129.91 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. Wintrust Financial has a 52-week low of $91.38 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.99. The company has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.19.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 19.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.