Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Stake Lifted by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 34.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,081 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,412 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WTFC shares. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $123.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.17. Wintrust Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $91.38 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its 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 return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

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.