Maltese Capital Management LLC Sells 56,273 Shares of Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Maltese Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 70.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,727 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 56,273 shares during the quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $3,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 2.4% during the third quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 450 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EJF Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 93.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In related news, CFO David L. Stoehr sold 2,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.16, for a total value of $365,253.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,638 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,130.08. The trade was a 11.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.43, for a total value of $45,665.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,152.21. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 11,662 shares of company stock worth $1,705,730 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTFC. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $176.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.31.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $131.54 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $89.10 and a 52 week high of $162.96. The company has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. Wintrust Financial had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The firm had revenue of $714.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This is an increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 19.30%.

Wintrust Financial Company Profile

Wintrust Financial Corporation is a Chicago‐area bank holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its primary subsidiary, Wintrust Bank, the company operates a network of community banks serving metropolitan Chicago and select markets in southeastern Wisconsin. These locally branded banks provide personalized commercial and consumer banking solutions tailored to small and mid‐size businesses, professionals, and individual clients.

The firm’s core offerings include deposit products, commercial and residential lending, treasury management, and mortgage banking services.