Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $170.5833.

A number of research firms have recently commented on WTFC. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $178.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $161.19 on Monday. Wintrust Financial has a 12 month low of $119.61 and a 12 month high of $164.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.47.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The bank reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $713.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $707.23 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 20.11%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 18.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, Director Suzet M. Mckinney sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.96, for a total value of $74,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,303 shares in the company, valued at $492,014.88. This trade represents a 13.15% 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 9,579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.82, for a total transaction of $1,425,546.78. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 179,810 shares in the company, valued at $26,759,324.20. This represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,099 shares of company stock valued at $1,954,386. Corporate insiders own 1.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WTFC. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.4% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,992,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $263,940,000 after acquiring an additional 102,833 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 27.1% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 572,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,864,000 after purchasing an additional 122,221 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the third quarter worth about $14,094,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 86,852 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,503,000 after purchasing an additional 11,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,287,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.