Freedom Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,906 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 351 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 825.0% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 296 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Wintrust Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 77.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.46, for a total transaction of $182,330.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,604.04. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,311 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,420.93. This trade represents a 8.83 % 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 corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $138.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.01. Wintrust Financial Co. has a one year low of $82.90 and a one year high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 16.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.