Azora Capital LP Cuts Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Key Points

• Azora Capital LP cut its stake in Wintrust Financial by 57.0% in Q3, selling 202,848 shares and ending the quarter with 152,737 shares (about 0.23% ownership) worth roughly $20.23 million.
• Wintrust beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $3.15 (vs. $2.93 expected) and $714.3M revenue, and multiple analysts raised price targets, leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $165.31 target.
• The bank raised its quarterly dividend to $0.55 ($2.20 annual, 1.7% yield), while insiders have been net sellers recently (11,662 shares sold in the last 90 days), with insiders owning about 1.01% of the stock.

Azora Capital LP lowered its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 152,737 shares of the bank's stock after selling 202,848 shares during the quarter. Azora Capital LP owned approximately 0.23% of Wintrust Financial worth $20,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 2.4% in the third quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,730 shares of the bank's stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 450 shares of the bank's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 828 shares of the bank's stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 20.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EJF Capital LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 2.5% in the second quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the bank's stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Wintrust Financial from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Wintrust Financial from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $165.31.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $130.21 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $89.10 and a 1 year high of $162.96. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $147.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.85.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $714.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $700.85 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Wintrust Financial's payout ratio is presently 19.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 314 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.43, for a total value of $45,665.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,947 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $283,152.21. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,499 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.16, for a total transaction of $365,253.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,724,130.08. This trade represents a 11.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,662 shares of company stock valued at $1,705,730. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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