Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $371,000 Stock Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 128.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,980 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 530.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,135 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 32,926 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 6.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,562 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 13.8% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,755,000 after purchasing an additional 28,727 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,042.20. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC stock opened at $113.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $124.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.83. Wintrust Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $91.38 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

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.