Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Increases Position in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,800 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $2,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTFC. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 8.9% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 28.8% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 872 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 89.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,384 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 1,128 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the first quarter valued at about $403,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 87.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 25,049 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after buying an additional 11,719 shares during the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $166.00 price objective for the company. Cowen assumed coverage on Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.57.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTFC opened at $125.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.24. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 0.83. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $89.10 and a 12-month high of $142.04.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $670.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.43 million. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 18.06%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Edward J. Wehmer acquired 3,919 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $103,265.65. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total value of $1,965,321.26. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 182,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,965,818.24. This represents a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.