Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) & Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB) Financial Contrast

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) and Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of Old National Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Old National Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Old National Bancorp has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Wintrust Financial and Old National Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wintrust Financial	$2.65 billion	3.23	$695.04 million	$10.88	11.76
Old National Bancorp	$2.32 billion	3.44	$539.19 million	$1.71	11.97

Wintrust Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Old National Bancorp. Wintrust Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Old National Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Wintrust Financial and Old National Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wintrust Financial	0	2	11	1	2.93
Old National Bancorp	0	4	7	1	2.75

Wintrust Financial currently has a consensus price target of $152.92, indicating a potential upside of 19.48%. Old National Bancorp has a consensus price target of $26.27, indicating a potential upside of 28.33%. Given Old National Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Old National Bancorp is more favorable than Wintrust Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Wintrust Financial and Old National Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wintrust Financial	18.85%	13.05%	1.21%
Old National Bancorp	17.39%	14.95%	1.19%

Dividends

Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Old National Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Wintrust Financial pays out 18.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Old National Bancorp pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Wintrust Financial has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Old National Bancorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty premium financing; as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.

About Old National Bancorp

Old National Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Old National Bank that provides various financial services to individual and commercial customers in the United States. It accepts deposit accounts, including noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing checking, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings and money market, and time deposits; and offers loans, such as home equity lines of credit, residential real estate loans, consumer loans, commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, letters of credit, and lease financing. The company also provides debit and automated teller machine cards, telephone access, online banking, and other electronic and mobile banking services; cash management, private banking, brokerage, trust, investment advisory, and other traditional banking services; wealth management, investment, and foreign currency services; and treasury management, merchant, and capital markets services, as well as community development lending and equity investment solutions. The company was founded in 1834 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.