Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Bought by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 17.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186,225 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,660 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 0.30% of Wintrust Financial worth $19,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,452,753 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,603,000 after acquiring an additional 244,168 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2,131.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 73,913 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,855,000 after purchasing an additional 70,601 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 258,610 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,986,000 after buying an additional 14,409 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 538,489 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,945,000 after buying an additional 65,179 shares during the period. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the 4th quarter worth $1,624,000. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.85.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC traded down $4.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $100.62. 561,680 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 590,938. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $71.86 and a 1-year high of $113.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $99.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.80.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $591.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.33 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.71% and a net margin of 17.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 18.61%.

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.