Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Acquires 3,641 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,423 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,641 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WTFC. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after buying an additional 637,072 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 4th quarter worth $40,562,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the 3rd 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 period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTFC has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % 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.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $110.85 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $91.38 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04.

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 period last year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

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.