Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Reduces Position in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Key Points

• Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec reduced its holdings in Wintrust Financial Corporation by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, owning 23,002 shares valued at approximately $2.59 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Wintrust Financial, with Bank of America Corp DE boosting its holdings by 55.6% during the 4th quarter.
• Wintrust Financial recently reported an earnings beat with $2.78 EPS for the quarter, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec trimmed its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,002 shares of the bank's stock after selling 2,460 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec's holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FJ Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the first quarter valued at about $6,086,000. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.4% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,410,773 shares of the bank's stock valued at $158,656,000 after acquiring an additional 97,587 shares during the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 30.7% during the first quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. now owns 24,042 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,650 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 13.2% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 63,733 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,167,000 after acquiring an additional 7,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Trading LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the first quarter valued at about $212,000. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC stock traded down $0.23 on Wednesday, hitting $137.68. The company had a trading volume of 298,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 437,383. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $131.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.49. The stock has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $89.10 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $670.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.43 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 18.06%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WTFC shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $137.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $157.00 price target (up from $155.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Edward J. Wehmer purchased 3,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.35 per share, for a total transaction of $103,265.65. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 3,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $103,265.65. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total transaction of $1,965,321.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 182,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,965,818.24. This trade represents a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.