Freedom Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,454 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 356 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 1,264.7% in the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 232 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 52.9% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 289 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 196.0% in the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 296 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Wintrust Financial

In other news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 14,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total transaction of $1,965,321.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 182,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,965,818.24. This represents a 7.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wintrust Financial Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $129.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $132.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.62. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $89.10 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The company has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The bank reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.43. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $697.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $689.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.47 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 6th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WTFC. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $166.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Wintrust Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $161.00 target price (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.92.

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.