Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys New Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 19,907 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,239,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 349,983 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,359,000 after purchasing an additional 105,754 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial during the 1st quarter worth $297,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,663 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,873 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 87.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 25,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,719 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $162.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $137.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up from $141.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their target price on Wintrust Financial from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.77.

Wintrust Financial Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $127.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $126.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $89.10 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.85.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.19. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 18.06%. The company had revenue of $670.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.43 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is presently 18.92%.

Insider Transactions at Wintrust Financial

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total transaction of $1,965,321.26. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 182,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,965,818.24. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer bought 3,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.35 per share, for a total transaction of $103,265.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,265.65. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.