Wintrust Financial Co. (WTFC) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 6th

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the bank on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 13.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 18.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 2.7 %

WTFC opened at $127.25 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial has a 52 week low of $89.68 and a 52 week high of $142.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.91. The firm has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WTFC shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler raised 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. StockNews.com cut Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently 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.