Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 437,028 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,752 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.66% of Wintrust Financial worth $47,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,376,000 after purchasing an additional 146,090 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 1.8% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 815,466 shares of the bank’s stock worth $80,372,000 after buying an additional 14,087 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 6.4% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 781,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,805,000 after buying an additional 47,242 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target 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 set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $137.89 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $116.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.53. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $82.90 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.15.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In related news, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314 in the last ninety days. Company 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.