Wintrust Financial’s (WTFC) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $152.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WTFC. DA Davidson upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC opened at $133.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $131.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.44. Wintrust Financial has a 1-year low of $89.68 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 17.46%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after buying an additional 637,072 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $125,464,000 after purchasing an additional 92,995 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.