Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,823 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WTFC. FMR LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial by 11.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,651,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $351,179,000 after acquiring an additional 480,942 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 60.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 716,253 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,077,000 after purchasing an additional 269,731 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 21.5% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,172,242 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,504,000 after purchasing an additional 207,606 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 58.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 363,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,449,000 after buying an additional 133,809 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the third quarter worth about $8,557,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on Wintrust Financial from $117.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $112.33.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC stock opened at $99.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $58.12 and a 1 year high of $105.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.84.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.47. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 13.09%. The company had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. Wintrust Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $943,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,599,040.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 177,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,599,040.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,770.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,309 shares of company stock valued at $1,023,730 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

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.