Wintrust Financial Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 4th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial has a payout ratio of 18.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 3.6 %

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $96.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.94. Wintrust Financial has a 12 month low of $89.10 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,042.20. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on WTFC shares. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.