Norges Bank Takes Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 761,016 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $94,906,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.14% of Wintrust Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 530.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,135 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 32,926 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 6.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,767,000 after buying an additional 4,562 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after buying an additional 126,724 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 708.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 17,327 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 15,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 4,145.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 13,016 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on WTFC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has an average 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 over the last three months. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $91.38 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.07 and a 200 day moving average of $122.54. The stock has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Wintrust Financial 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.