Fiera Capital Corp Cuts Stake in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Fiera Capital Corp reduced its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 420,379 shares of the bank's stock after selling 9,304 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp owned about 0.63% of Wintrust Financial worth $52,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the bank's stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank's stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank's stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at $298,042.20. This trade represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,607,752.56. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company's stock.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

WTFC stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $129.61. 458,770 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 470,316. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $91.38 and a 1 year high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.33 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.69.

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.