Arcataur Capital Management LLC Invests $224,000 in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Arcataur Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,800 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Wintrust Financial during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.9 %

Wintrust Financial stock opened at $130.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $130.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $90.29 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 1.19.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.33 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,607,752.56. This represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % 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 worth $1,336,315 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

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.