PL Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,645 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

PL Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,855 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,645 shares during the period. PL Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,651,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $351,179,000 after purchasing an additional 480,942 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 102.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 596,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,338,000 after buying an additional 301,528 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 60.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 716,253 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,077,000 after buying an additional 269,731 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 21.5% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,172,242 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,504,000 after buying an additional 207,606 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 58.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 363,558 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,449,000 after buying an additional 133,809 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.33.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

WTFC stock opened at $99.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $58.12 and a twelve month high of $105.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $98.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.73. The company has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.47. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.09% and a net margin of 17.86%. The company had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.61%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $333,770.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,599,040.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $333,770.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,309 shares of company stock worth $1,023,730. 1.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.