Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Stock

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Barclays from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the bank’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.29% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WTFC. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.31.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC opened at $133.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $131.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial has a 12-month low of $89.68 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wintrust Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WTFC. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 13.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,666 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 910.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 20,181 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 18,183 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $265,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $446,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 148,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,602,000 after purchasing an additional 29,839 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.