S.A. Mason LLC Makes New $239,000 Investment in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

S.A. Mason LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,205 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WTFC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,452,753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,603,000 after purchasing an additional 244,168 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 157.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 190,416 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,878,000 after buying an additional 116,503 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,638,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $171,000,000 after acquiring an additional 72,082 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the second quarter worth about $1,115,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 2.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 207,944 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,495,000 after acquiring an additional 5,563 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $115.00 in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $117.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $108.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $73.37 and a 52 week high of $118.69.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.53 earnings per share. Wintrust Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 18.85%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. Company insiders own 1.47% 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.