Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Short Interest Up 24.1% in December

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 951,600 shares, an increase of 24.1% from the November 30th total of 766,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 416,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $125.21 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $127.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.11. The company has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.18. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. 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) last posted its earnings results 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 business 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%. Wintrust Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.85%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $1,687,604.04. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 15,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 197,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,817,808.68. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,198 shares of company stock worth $2,445,314 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH grew its stake 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 buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.8% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 1.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.5% in the third 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 period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

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.