Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.60.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Raymond James raised their price target on Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Wedbush raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $82.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC stock opened at $74.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.76. Wintrust Financial has a twelve month low of $57.48 and a twelve month high of $97.81. The firm has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.22.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The bank reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.38. The firm had revenue of $810.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $555.16 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 22.24%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Wintrust Financial will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 9th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 169,972 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,366,000 after acquiring an additional 8,981 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,489,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,838,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,418,000 after acquiring an additional 69,128 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 3.5% during the first quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,634 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,336 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after acquiring an additional 3,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.00% 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.