Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld Sells 221 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Stock

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.71, for a total value of $22,256.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,025.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $100.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 219,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,225. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $58.12 and a 1-year high of $105.29.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.47. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.09% and a net margin of 17.86%. The firm had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 18.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 2,131.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 73,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,855,000 after acquiring an additional 70,601 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 61.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 32,210 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after acquiring an additional 12,243 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 24.6% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 344,631 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,020,000 after acquiring an additional 68,042 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 13.4% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 644,050 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,549,000 after acquiring an additional 75,994 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in Wintrust Financial during the third quarter valued at about $476,000. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $112.33.

About Wintrust Financial

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.