Insider Selling: Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) EVP Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) EVP Kathleen Boege sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,349,613.54. The trade was a 17.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WTFC traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $147.49. The stock had a trading volume of 396,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 484,686. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.88. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $89.10 and a fifty-two week high of $155.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $141.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.66.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $586.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 5th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.4% during the 3rd 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. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,442,018 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $190,981,000 after buying an additional 8,048 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,300,234 shares of the bank’s stock worth $172,204,000 after buying an additional 75,155 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 9.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,229,858 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $152,478,000 after buying an additional 101,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 1.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,071,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,944,000 after buying an additional 15,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $161.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.42.

Wintrust Financial Company Profile

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.