New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 350,641 shares of the bank's stock after selling 6,819 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.53% of Wintrust Financial worth $43,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.1% during the 4th 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 period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 677 shares of the bank's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wintrust Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $133.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 416 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owns 2,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,042.20. This trade represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,178 shares of company stock worth $1,336,315. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ WTFC traded down $4.29 on Friday, hitting $124.53. The stock had a trading volume of 106,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 436,268. Wintrust Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $91.38 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.17 and a 200-day moving average of $119.82.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.