GW&K Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 513,752 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $64,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

WTFC opened at $122.80 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $91.38 and a 52 week high of $142.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.72. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.19.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total value of $418,321.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. This trade represents 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 valued at $1,336,315 over the last 90 days. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.