Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 18.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,953 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,478 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Wintrust Financial worth $3,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,297 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $47,769,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,128,724 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $126,936,000 after buying an additional 30,018 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,239,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,007 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total transaction of $1,965,321.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 182,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,965,818.24. This trade represents a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer bought 3,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.35 per share, with a total value of $103,265.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,265.65. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $137.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up from $141.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $137.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.77.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of WTFC opened at $134.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $127.79 and a 200 day moving average of $119.91. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $89.10 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.19. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 18.06%.The business had revenue of $670.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.43 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.92%.

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.