Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,767 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.20% of Wintrust Financial worth $16,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. FMR LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,562,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total value of $553,209.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 over the last 90 days. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTFC. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $112.00 on Wednesday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a one year low of $91.38 and a one year high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $125.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.91. The company has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.40%.

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.