Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC – Get Rating) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $106.70.

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $112.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $108.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 20th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 20th.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 8.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $77.40 on Friday. Wintrust Financial has a 52 week low of $57.48 and a 52 week high of $98.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 8th. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director H Patrick Hackett, Jr. purchased 7,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $73.31 per share, for a total transaction of $520,501.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 47,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,458,252.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,928,458 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $483,466,000 after acquiring an additional 109,995 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 12.6% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,463,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $277,586,000 after buying an additional 388,206 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,726,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $253,358,000 after buying an additional 217,232 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,482,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $209,810,000 after buying an additional 84,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,355,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $192,130,000 after buying an additional 239,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.47% of the company’s stock.

About Wintrust Financial

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Wintrust Financial Corp. operates as holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment provides community-oriented, personal, and commercial banking services to customers located in its market area.