Oak Thistle LLC Makes New Investment in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,757 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 18.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 198,819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,596,000 after purchasing an additional 9,292 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,666 shares of the bank’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 910.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 20,181 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after buying an additional 18,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $265,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of Wintrust Financial stock opened at $133.45 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $130.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.05. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $89.68 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 1.20.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 18.85%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total value of $182,330.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,604.04. This represents a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the transaction, the insider now 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Wintrust Financial 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.