Barclays PLC Grows Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Barclays PLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 3.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 81,737 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,748 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $8,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.4% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 26,128 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the third quarter valued at about $210,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 3,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 118,659 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,878,000 after buying an additional 14,722 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $130.25 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $125.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.53. The company has a market capitalization of $8.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

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.