Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Short Interest Up 24.1% in December

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 951,600 shares, an increase of 24.1% from the November 30th total of 766,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 416,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on WTFC shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of 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 target on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total value of $182,330.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,687,604.04. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. 1.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WTFC. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,295 shares of the bank’s stock worth $297,376,000 after buying an additional 146,090 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,169,000 after acquiring an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $125.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.18. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $127.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.11.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released 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 net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 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.