Insider Buying: Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Insider Purchases 417 Shares of Stock

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) insider Edward J. Wehmer acquired 417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.16 per share, with a total value of $10,491.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 2,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,302.56. This represents a 19.87 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $130.04 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 stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $130.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.40. Wintrust Financial Co. has a one year low of $90.29 and a one year high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 earned $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 19.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 28,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,307,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTFC. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

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.