David L. Stoehr Sells 2,363 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Stock

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $130.81 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $89.68 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their target price 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. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares during the period. Finally, Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $14,970,000. 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.