Wintrust Financial (WTFC) Competitors

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, MTB or WTFC?

M&T Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Wintrust Financial. Wintrust Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than M&T Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
M&T Bank	$9.23B	3.26	$2.59B	$14.63	12.51
Wintrust Financial	$2.45B	3.16	$695.04M	$10.31	11.25

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in MTB or WTFC?

84.7% of M&T Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of M&T Bank shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor MTB or WTFC?

In the previous week, M&T Bank had 15 more articles in the media than Wintrust Financial. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for M&T Bank and 6 mentions for Wintrust Financial. Wintrust Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat M&T Bank's score of 1.03 indicating that Wintrust Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
M&T Bank	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wintrust Financial	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer MTB or WTFC?

M&T Bank presently has a consensus target price of $219.97, suggesting a potential upside of 20.22%. Wintrust Financial has a consensus target price of $133.69, suggesting a potential upside of 15.26%. Given M&T Bank's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe M&T Bank is more favorable than Wintrust Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
M&T Bank	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.41
Wintrust Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is MTB or WTFC a better dividend stock?

M&T Bank pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. M&T Bank pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wintrust Financial pays out 19.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Which has more volatility & risk, MTB or WTFC?

M&T Bank has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MTB or WTFC?

Wintrust Financial received 232 more outperform votes than M&T Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.95% of users gave Wintrust Financial an outperform vote while only 45.87% of users gave M&T Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
M&T Bank	Outperform Votes 250 45.87%	Underperform Votes 295 54.13%
Wintrust Financial	Outperform Votes 482 61.95%	Underperform Votes 296 38.05%

Is MTB or WTFC more profitable?

M&T Bank has a net margin of 19.24% compared to Wintrust Financial's net margin of 17.52%. Wintrust Financial's return on equity of 12.60% beat M&T Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
M&T Bank	19.24%	10.12%	1.25%
Wintrust Financial	17.52%	12.60%	1.13%

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats M&T Bank on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.