Royce & Associates LP Sells 22,842 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,871 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 22,842 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.09% of Wintrust Financial worth $7,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,127 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 16.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 47,788 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,186,000 after buying an additional 6,880 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 129,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,094,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36,366.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $499,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WTFC. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % 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 worth $1,336,315 over the last 90 days. 1.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $112.00 on Wednesday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $91.38 and a 12-month high of $142.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 last year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.