Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,048,816 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 106,263 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 1.58% of Wintrust Financial worth $130,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 865,409 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,925,000 after buying an additional 253,050 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 404,829 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,397,000 after buying an additional 4,653 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,364 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total value of $553,209.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,088,465.14. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $114.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $91.38 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $121.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. 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.