Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the bank on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a boost from Wintrust Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 13.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 16.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.7%.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

WTFC traded down $0.26 on Thursday, reaching $133.03. The company had a trading volume of 653,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 493,999. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $131.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.32.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total value of $1,789,016.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total transaction of $473,967.37. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday. 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 note on Thursday. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $133.69.

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.

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