Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Acquires New Position in Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 94,034 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $13,065,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. F m Investments LLC grew its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 61.6% during the fourth quarter. F m Investments LLC now owns 70,857 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,907,000 after acquiring an additional 27,013 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in Wintrust Financial by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 559,762 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,266,000 after acquiring an additional 102,798 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in Wintrust Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $59,287,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 132.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 51,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 29,386 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 79.8% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 33,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 14,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WTFC shares. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Wintrust Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Brean Capital cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Wintrust Financial from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Wintrust Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wintrust Financial

In other news, Director Suzet M. Mckinney sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.96, for a total value of $74,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $492,014.88. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wintrust Financial Price Performance

WTFC stock opened at $158.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.53. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $119.61 and a 12 month high of $167.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 0.84.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The bank reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.15. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.37% and a net margin of 20.72%.The firm had revenue of $738.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Wintrust Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.67%.

About Wintrust Financial

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.