Retirement Systems of Alabama Purchases 4,562 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,562 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $8,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In related news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,604.04. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314 over the last three months. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

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

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. Wintrust Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date 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.