Wintrust Financial’s (WTFC) Strong-Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reissued by analysts at Raymond James in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $150.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of $135.00. Raymond James’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.37% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.46.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $133.49 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.20. Wintrust Financial has a fifty-two week low of $89.68 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.92%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 28,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.8% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 24,716 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.