Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Lowers Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 22.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 172,421 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 48,510 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $21,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $559,364,000 after acquiring an additional 637,072 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,562,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,981,000 after purchasing an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,169,000 after purchasing an additional 126,724 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WTFC. UBS Group assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Wintrust Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $114.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.80. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $91.38 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In related news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at $298,042.20. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total value of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. Corporate 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.