First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,992,906 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,833 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 2.98% of Wintrust Financial worth $263,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,019 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 179,430 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,179,000 after buying an additional 12,103 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 35,578 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,411,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 689 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider David Eric Lee sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.42, for a total value of $82,260.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,371,250.70. The trade was a 3.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen M. Boege sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.38, for a total transaction of $731,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,349,613.54. The trade was a 17.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 11,662 shares of company stock worth $1,705,730 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $161.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.31.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of WTFC opened at $138.07 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a one year low of $89.10 and a one year high of $162.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $148.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 0.85.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $714.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $700.85 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.30%.

Wintrust Financial Profile

Wintrust Financial Corporation is a Chicago‐area bank holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its primary subsidiary, Wintrust Bank, the company operates a network of community banks serving metropolitan Chicago and select markets in southeastern Wisconsin. These locally branded banks provide personalized commercial and consumer banking solutions tailored to small and mid‐size businesses, professionals, and individual clients.

The firm’s core offerings include deposit products, commercial and residential lending, treasury management, and mortgage banking services.