Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their strong-buy rating on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $150.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $135.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $133.03 on Thursday. Wintrust Financial has a 1-year low of $89.68 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 17.46%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 530.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,135 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after buying an additional 32,926 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 6.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,562 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during 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. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 203,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,063,000 after purchasing an additional 14,699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.