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

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $133.69.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Barclays raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on 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 $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 over the last quarter. 1.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the third quarter valued at $61,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $128.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.82. Wintrust Financial has a 1-year low of $91.38 and a 1-year 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 released 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 return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.40%.

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.