Short Interest in Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Grows By 17.2%

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 766,900 shares, an increase of 17.2% from the November 15th total of 654,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 398,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Piper Sandler upped 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. DA Davidson boosted their price target 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. Truist Financial raised 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. Raymond James lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $126.00 to $135.00 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.62.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC opened at $131.41 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $89.68 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.97. The firm has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 1.18.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.47 EPS 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 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Wintrust Financial will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 18.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 1,607 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,874 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at this link. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 4,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.63, for a total value of $473,967.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,198 shares of company stock valued at $2,445,314. Corporate insiders own 1.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Wintrust Financial by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wintrust Financial Company 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.