Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 17.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.7%.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC opened at $99.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Wintrust Financial has a 12 month low of $58.12 and a 12 month high of $105.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.62. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.47. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 13.09%. The business had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTFC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $117.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $116.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.33.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $333,770.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,770.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares in the company, valued at $17,599,040.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,309 shares of company stock worth $1,023,730. Insiders own 1.47% 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.