Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Bought by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 43,096 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned 0.06% of Wintrust Financial worth $5,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 387.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,341 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,375 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 218,733 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,739,000 after acquiring an additional 10,789 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 203,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,063,000 after acquiring an additional 14,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 111.7% during the 3rd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 1,033 shares of the bank’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. This trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $130.80 on Thursday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $91.38 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $129.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.40%.

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.