Advisors Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management bought a new Q4 position of 20,719 shares in Wintrust Financial (~$2.90M), and institutional investors now own about 93.48% of the stock.
• Wintrust beat Q1 estimates with EPS of $3.22 vs. $2.96 and revenue of $713.17M (+10.9% YoY), and analysts are broadly positive — consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $168.92 and several firms raising targets up to $190.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading 14,368 shares (~$2.11M) over the last three months (including a CFO sale), leaving insiders with just 1.24% ownership.

Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 20,719 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $2,897,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the bank's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the bank's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,730 shares of the bank's stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,129 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WTFC shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $176.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $168.92.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 3,020 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.45, for a total value of $454,359.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,987,895.85. The trade was a 18.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David Eric Lee sold 558 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.42, for a total transaction of $82,260.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,085 shares in the company, valued at $2,371,250.70. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,368 shares of company stock worth $2,114,424 over the last three months. 1.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $149.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51 and a beta of 0.86. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $109.46 and a 1-year high of $162.96.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The bank reported $3.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.26. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 20.11%.The business had revenue of $713.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $707.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.44%.

Wintrust Financial 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.

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