Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $107.93 Million Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 41.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 865,409 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 253,050 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 1.30% of Wintrust Financial worth $107,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 530.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 32,926 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 6.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 80,782 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,767,000 after buying an additional 4,562 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after buying an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 708.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 17,327 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,880,000 after buying an additional 15,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 4,145.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 13,016 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total value of $553,209.03. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $112.46 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $91.38 and a 12-month high of $142.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

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.