Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Reaches New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $134.82 and last traded at $134.82, with a volume of 9502 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $133.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Wintrust Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Three 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.41. 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 (NASDAQ:WTFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $615.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.45 million. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.99%. Wintrust Financial's revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial's payout ratio is currently 18.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at $22,817,808.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total value of $182,330.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,874 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,687,604.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 825.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 296 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial in the third quarter worth $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial in the third quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company's stock.

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.