Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Purchased by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,726 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,099 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $559,364,000 after acquiring an additional 637,072 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $125,464,000 after purchasing an additional 92,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,132,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 206,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 in the last three months. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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 boosted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $115.99 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.16. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $91.38 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.40%.

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.