Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Shares Purchased by Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd.

Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 361,253 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 6,200 shares during the period. Wintrust Financial comprises 2.5% of Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. owned 0.54% of Wintrust Financial worth $39,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 0.8% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank's stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH grew its position in Wintrust Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 28,928 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 24,716 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,682,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 1.4% during the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,304 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,016,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.48, for a total transaction of $1,789,016.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,892,420.93. The trade was a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. Insiders own 1.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WTFC. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $130.83. 354,687 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 386,630. The company has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 1.15. Wintrust Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $82.90 and a twelve month high of $136.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $615.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.85%.

Wintrust Financial 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.