Norges Bank Buys Shares of 761,016 Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 761,016 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $94,906,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 920.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $91.38 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $122.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.54.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.40%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,088,465.14. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total value of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial 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.