Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 4,562 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,562 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.12% of Wintrust Financial worth $8,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 11.7% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of WTFC opened at $130.25 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $125.79 and a 200-day moving average of $110.53. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The company has a market capitalization of $8.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 18.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. Corporate insiders own 1.47% 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.