Piper Sandler Increases Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Price Target to $156.00

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) had its price objective lifted by Piper Sandler from $151.00 to $156.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

WTFC has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $133.03 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $131.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial has a 1-year low of $89.68 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 17.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $285,169,000 after acquiring an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after acquiring an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,464,000 after purchasing an additional 92,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% 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.