Fiera Capital Corp Cuts Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Fiera Capital Corp lowered its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 429,683 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,601 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $46,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 29.8% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 53,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 17.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,702 shares of the bank’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 15.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,729 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,642,000 after buying an additional 2,081 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 23.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 118,312 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,351,000 after buying an additional 22,586 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WTFC. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Wintrust Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $127.66. 54,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 385,536. The company has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $76.67 and a 12-month high of $131.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.67.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

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.