Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.55 Per Share

Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the bank on Thursday, February 19th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 5th. This is a 10.0% increase from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Wintrust Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 17.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

NASDAQ WTFC opened at $150.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 0.88. Wintrust Financial has a one year low of $89.10 and a one year high of $155.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $139.93 and a 200 day moving average of $134.18.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 $586.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wintrust Financial will post 10.36 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wintrust Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Wintrust Financial by 5.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,992,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $263,940,000 after acquiring an additional 102,833 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Wintrust Financial by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,442,018 shares of the bank’s stock worth $190,981,000 after purchasing an additional 8,048 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wintrust Financial by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,300,234 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $172,204,000 after purchasing an additional 75,155 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Wintrust Financial by 9.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,229,858 shares of the bank’s stock worth $152,478,000 after buying an additional 101,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Wintrust Financial by 1.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,071,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,944,000 after buying an additional 15,044 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.48% of the company’s stock.

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.