Norris Perne & French LLP MI Has $1.30 Million Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI cut its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,405 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,057 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. This trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC opened at $131.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $131.07 and a 200-day moving average of $117.51. 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 $89.68 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 17.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WTFC. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

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.