Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $116.00 price target on the bank's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Sunday, March 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $113.33.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Thursday, hitting $95.30. The stock had a trading volume of 765,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,015. Wintrust Financial has a 12 month low of $58.12 and a 12 month high of $105.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $98.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.57. The stock has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $604.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.80 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares in the company, valued at $333,770.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total transaction of $57,553.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $333,770.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares in the company, valued at $17,599,040.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 351 shares of the bank's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 106.2% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 365 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wintrust Financial Company 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.