Vest Financial LLC Grows Stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 38.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,794 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,452,753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,603,000 after purchasing an additional 244,168 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,638,085 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $171,000,000 after purchasing an additional 72,082 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 54.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,330,263 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $138,866,000 after purchasing an additional 469,640 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its stake in Wintrust Financial by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 734,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,898,000. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wedbush increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Hovde Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Friday, June 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $107.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.85.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC stock opened at $102.59 on Friday. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $71.86 and a 52-week high of $113.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.16.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.10). Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.02% and a return on equity of 12.71%. The firm had revenue of $591.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Wintrust Financial’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 18.61%.

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.