Vest Financial LLC Has $2.47 Million Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,806 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 6,081 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,018,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 29.7% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 24.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,014 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 387.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during 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. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $130.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.46. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.29 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (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 12.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total value of $553,209.03. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,088,465.14. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on WTFC shares. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

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.