Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 6,000 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,000 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James upped their price objective 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. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $135.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.53. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $89.68 and a 52 week high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The company had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.85%.

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.