Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Rating Reiterated by Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $116.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They set an overweight rating and a $135.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $113.33.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of WTFC opened at $95.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial has a 12-month low of $58.12 and a 12-month high of $105.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $98.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.80 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 13.29%. Wintrust Financial’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.61%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $333,770.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $943,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,599,040.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total transaction of $57,553.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,410 shares in the company, valued at $333,770.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,802 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 12.8% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,475 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 16,809 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 33.4% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 9,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 20,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.