Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC Stock Position Lessened by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP lessened its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 16.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,764 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,186 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $3,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,300,234 shares of the bank’s stock worth $172,204,000 after buying an additional 75,155 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 73,013.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 42,406 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,616,000 after acquiring an additional 42,348 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 417.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 506,766 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,116,000 after acquiring an additional 408,925 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 405,599 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,718,000 after acquiring an additional 11,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 200,710 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,413,000 after purchasing an additional 8,758 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $161.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider David Eric Lee sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.42, for a total value of $82,260.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,371,250.70. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,499 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.16, for a total transaction of $365,253.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,130.08. This trade represents a 11.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,662 shares of company stock worth $1,705,730. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 1.5%

WTFC opened at $143.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $148.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.65. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $89.10 and a fifty-two week high of $162.96.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The company had revenue of $714.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.30%.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation is a Chicago‐area bank holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its primary subsidiary, Wintrust Bank, the company operates a network of community banks serving metropolitan Chicago and select markets in southeastern Wisconsin. These locally branded banks provide personalized commercial and consumer banking solutions tailored to small and mid‐size businesses, professionals, and individual clients.

The firm’s core offerings include deposit products, commercial and residential lending, treasury management, and mortgage banking services.