Wintrust Financial (WTFC) Competitors

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) and M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Is WTFC or MTB more profitable?

M&T Bank has a net margin of 19.24% compared to Wintrust Financial's net margin of 17.52%. Wintrust Financial's return on equity of 12.60% beat M&T Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wintrust Financial	17.52%	12.60%	1.13%
M&T Bank	19.24%	10.12%	1.25%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WTFC or MTB?

Wintrust Financial received 231 more outperform votes than M&T Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.10% of users gave Wintrust Financial an outperform vote while only 46.17% of users gave M&T Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Wintrust Financial	Outperform Votes 490 62.10%	Underperform Votes 299 37.90%
M&T Bank	Outperform Votes 259 46.17%	Underperform Votes 302 53.83%

Does the media prefer WTFC or MTB?

In the previous week, M&T Bank had 23 more articles in the media than Wintrust Financial. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for M&T Bank and 10 mentions for Wintrust Financial. Wintrust Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.73 beat M&T Bank's score of 0.99 indicating that Wintrust Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Wintrust Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
M&T Bank	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WTFC or MTB?

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of M&T Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of M&T Bank shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WTFC or MTB a better dividend stock?

Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. M&T Bank pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Wintrust Financial pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. M&T Bank pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, WTFC or MTB?

M&T Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Wintrust Financial. Wintrust Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than M&T Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wintrust Financial	$2.49B	3.28	$695.04M	$10.11	12.07
M&T Bank	$9.30B	3.20	$2.59B	$14.93	12.44

Do analysts recommend WTFC or MTB?

Wintrust Financial currently has a consensus target price of $133.54, suggesting a potential upside of 9.44%. M&T Bank has a consensus target price of $209.33, suggesting a potential upside of 12.70%. Given M&T Bank's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe M&T Bank is more favorable than Wintrust Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wintrust Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
M&T Bank	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.52

Which has more volatility & risk, WTFC or MTB?

Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, M&T Bank has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats M&T Bank on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.