Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $148.6429.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $157.00 price target (up from $155.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target (up from $141.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $137.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total value of $1,965,321.26. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 182,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,965,818.24. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer acquired 3,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.35 per share, for a total transaction of $103,265.65. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 3,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $103,265.65. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. Maseco LLP acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 1,264.7% in the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 232 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $130.40 on Friday. Wintrust Financial has a 12-month low of $89.10 and a 12-month high of $142.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $132.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.69. The stock has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.83.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.19. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 18.06%.The firm had revenue of $670.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 18.92%.

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.