Blue Trust Inc. Buys 2,761 Shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 202.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,122 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 2,761 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 387.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the bank's stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,341 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 218,733 shares of the bank's stock valued at $23,739,000 after purchasing an additional 10,789 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 203,285 shares of the bank's stock valued at $22,063,000 after purchasing an additional 14,699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total value of $54,475.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WTFC. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC stock traded down $5.02 on Friday, hitting $123.80. 299,137 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 442,389. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $91.38 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The stock has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.01 and a 200-day moving average of $120.01. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.40%.

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.