KBC Group NV Raises Stock Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 1,412.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,393 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 28,384 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $3,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 14.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,999 shares of the bank's stock worth $559,364,000 after purchasing an additional 637,072 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,841 shares of the bank's stock worth $87,132,000 after purchasing an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,308,254 shares of the bank's stock valued at $141,981,000 after buying an additional 133,311 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,627,561 shares of the bank's stock worth $285,169,000 after buying an additional 126,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 8.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,726 shares of the bank's stock worth $125,464,000 after acquiring an additional 92,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Wintrust Financial to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of WTFC traded up $1.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $129.13. 297,974 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 488,708. 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 fifty-two week low of $89.68 and a fifty-two week high of $142.04. The company has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's fifty day moving average is $130.55 and its 200 day moving average is $118.08.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio is 17.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,363 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.32, for a total transaction of $310,309.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,607,752.56. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.95, for a total transaction of $54,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at $298,042.20. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.