Zacks Investment Management Reduces Stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Zacks Investment Management reduced its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,241 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 19,418 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management owned about 0.15% of Wintrust Financial worth $12,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 56,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,020,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 66.6% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 5,937 shares of the bank’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 10,914 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 111,950 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,962,000 after purchasing an additional 30,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 79,686 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $155.00 to $138.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at $6,409,278.20. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at $298,042.20. This trade represents a 15.45 % 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 quarter. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $101.61 on Thursday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a one year low of $89.10 and a one year high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $114.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.59.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 19.40%.

Wintrust Financial 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.