Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 133,311 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.97% of Wintrust Financial worth $141,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 28,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 1.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $124.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.18. Wintrust Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $89.68 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.03). Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial 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.