Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases 100 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,500 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $129.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $91.38 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $129.40 and its 200 day moving average is $119.14.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. Research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.33 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 19.40%.

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.