Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 182,733 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 18,874 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $24,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 6.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,300,234 shares of the bank’s stock worth $172,204,000 after acquiring an additional 75,155 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 73,013.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 42,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,616,000 after purchasing an additional 42,348 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 417.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 506,766 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,116,000 after purchasing an additional 408,925 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 405,599 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,718,000 after purchasing an additional 11,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 200,710 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,413,000 after purchasing an additional 8,758 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Stephens upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.31.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $136.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 0.85. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $89.10 and a twelve month high of $162.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $148.34 and a 200 day moving average of $138.93.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $714.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.85 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period last year, the business posted $2.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 19.30%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, EVP Kathleen M. Boege sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.38, for a total transaction of $731,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,349,613.54. The trade was a 17.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David Eric Lee sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.42, for a total transaction of $82,260.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,371,250.70. This trade represents a 3.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,662 shares of company stock valued at $1,705,730. Company insiders own 1.01% 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.