Insider Selling: Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Insider Sells 7,136 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Richard Murphy sold 7,136 Wintrust Financial shares for approximately $1.06 million, reducing his direct ownership by 19.16% to 30,107 shares.
• Strong quarterly results: Wintrust reported quarterly earnings of $3.37 per share, beating estimates by $0.06, while revenue rose 8.6% year over year to $757.88 million.
• Analyst and shareholder outlook: Analysts give WTFC a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average $175 price target, while institutional investors own 93.48% of the stock; the company also declared a $0.55 quarterly dividend.

Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) insider Richard Murphy sold 7,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.66, for a total value of $1,060,837.76. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,107 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,475,706.62. The trade was a 19.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $150.77. 620,922 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 517,977. The company's 50-day moving average is $148.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.89. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $122.00 and a 1 year high of $167.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 19th. The bank reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $757.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.54 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 21.03% and a return on equity of 13.31%. Wintrust Financial's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 13.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 5th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Wintrust Financial's payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Friday, September 25th. DA Davidson set a $180.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $170.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Brean Capital lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $175.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,058,088,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $168,021,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $92,734,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $92,391,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 26.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,830,268 shares of the bank's stock valued at $254,297,000 after buying an additional 385,069 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation NASDAQ: WTFC is a financial holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its network of community banking subsidiaries, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, commercial and consumer lending, residential mortgages, treasury management, cash management and other deposit services. Wintrust also provides wealth management, investment services, insurance-related products and specialized finance solutions, including equipment finance and premium finance.

Founded in 1991, Wintrust has built its business through a community banking model that combines local decision-making and relationship-based service with the resources of a larger financial organization.

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