Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC Stake Trimmed by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 11.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,619 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,115 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $7,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $168,021,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $8,320,000. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 56,983 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,158,000 after acquiring an additional 6,214 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 117,250 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $866,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WTFC. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Wintrust Financial from $195.00 to $186.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $192.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.00.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, insider Richard Murphy sold 7,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.66, for a total transaction of $1,060,837.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,475,706.62. This trade represents a 19.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO David Dykstra sold 13,515 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.77, for a total value of $2,199,836.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 166,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,092,903.73. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.24% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $150.77. The company had a trading volume of 620,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,467. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.89. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $122.00 and a fifty-two week high of $167.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The bank reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.06. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 21.03% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The business had revenue of $757.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $754.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 5th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.87%.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WTFC) is a financial holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its network of community banking subsidiaries, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, commercial and consumer lending, residential mortgages, treasury management, cash management and other deposit services. Wintrust also provides wealth management, investment services, insurance-related products and specialized finance solutions, including equipment finance and premium finance.

Founded in 1991, Wintrust has built its business through a community banking model that combines local decision-making and relationship-based service with the resources of a larger financial organization.