Wintrust Financial Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Wintrust Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial has a payout ratio of 17.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Wintrust Financial to earn $10.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.7%.

Wintrust Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WTFC opened at $99.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Wintrust Financial has a 1 year low of $58.12 and a 1 year high of $105.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.62. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 1.21.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.47. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 13.09% and a net margin of 17.86%. The firm had revenue of $604.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Wintrust Financial from $115.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Wintrust Financial from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wintrust Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wintrust Financial news, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 177,124 shares in the company, valued at $17,599,040.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Jeffrey D. Hahnfeld sold 588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.88, for a total value of $57,553.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $333,770.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward J. Wehmer sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $943,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 177,124 shares in the company, valued at $17,599,040.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,309 shares of company stock worth $1,023,730. 1.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.