Choreo LLC Lowers Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Choreo LLC decreased its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,116 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 570 shares during the quarter. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 379,407 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,316,000 after purchasing an additional 65,092 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 112.7% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,848 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 3,098 shares during the period. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,910 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 1,412.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 30,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,790,000 after acquiring an additional 28,384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WTFC shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Insider Activity

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

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $130.04 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 1.19. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $90.29 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.3 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

Wintrust Financial Company 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.