Wintrust Financial’s (WTFC) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $152.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on WTFC. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

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

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after acquiring an additional 637,072 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the 3rd 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,464,000 after buying an additional 92,995 shares in 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.