Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the bank on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 16.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.7%.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $133.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.20. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $131.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.44.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTFC has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wintrust Financial Company 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.