Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives $128.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $133.69.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WTFC shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial raised shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WTFC opened at $131.79 on Monday. Wintrust Financial has a 1-year low of $89.68 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $131.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 379,407 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,316,000 after purchasing an additional 65,092 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 112.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,848 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 3,098 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,910 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1,412.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 30,393 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,790,000 after acquiring an additional 28,384 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.