Bank of Montreal Can Has $2.29 Million Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Bank of Montreal Can cut its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 61.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,364 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 29,553 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 530.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,247,000 after acquiring an additional 32,926 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,737 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,870,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 8.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total value of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last quarter. 1.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on Wintrust Financial from $155.00 to $138.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.38.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $101.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.59. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $89.10 and a 12 month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.