Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 13.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 18.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTFC opened at $96.28 on Friday. Wintrust Financial has a 52 week low of $89.10 and a 52 week high of $142.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.94.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.11. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, COO David A. Dykstra sold 4,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.31, for a total transaction of $553,209.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 206,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,465.14. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,186 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.30, for a total transaction of $418,321.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,409,278.20. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,178 shares of company stock valued at $1,336,315. 1.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial raised Wintrust Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wintrust Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

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.